This Wednesday the Colombia Women’s U-17 National Team will play, for the first time in five opportunities in this category, the semifinal of the World in India.
Commanded by the Valle del Cauca Linda Caycedonominated for best player of the year by the Globe Soccer Awards, directed by the Antioquia Carlos Paniagua They will seek to impose their game again when they face Nigeria, starting at 6:00 in the morning.
The role played by the representatives of Colombia in the Women’s Under-17 World Cup in India generates admiration and greater enthusiasm. This is how two referents of soccer in the country feel it, Manuela Vanegas and Paula Botero, who also, with talent and effort, have fought for this sport to continue its stages of growth and recognition.
“What the Sub-17 is doing is a spectacle and how much it has made the country vibrate. I have my immense faith in these women who have given everything for Colombia. I feel proud of the work they do and of all the people who have been part of our women’s football”. Thus she expressed, from Spain, Manuela Vanegas, athlete who was born 21 years ago in the municipality of Copacabana and who now plays for Real Sociedad.
The defender, who comes from being runner-up in the Copa América played in national territory, pointed out that what her colleagues do in the Asian tournament is not the result of chance.
“The moment that women’s soccer is experiencing in Colombia is positive and the truth is that it doesn’t surprise me. I have always thought that history runs through the veins of Colombian women, and in this case athletes. That’s what we were born for, and that’s what the U-17 is doing. The U-20 also did it recently in the World Cup in Costa Rica (it reached the quarterfinals) and we did it in the Copa América”, added Vanegas, who trained as a soccer player in the Club Formas Intimas.
“Fortunately, every time the generations are growing, advancing, taking big steps in this sport and it is a pride and a privilege to be part of this beautiful process. Every time we will go for more, to improve”, added Vanegas.
In addition to Caicedo, who leads the World Cup scorers in India with four goals, players such as Luisa Agudelo, Ana María Guzmán, Stefanía Perlaza, Mary José Álvarez, Juana Ortegón, Yésica Álvarez, Gabriela Rodríguez and Orianna Quintero also stand out. among other.
Grateful
For Paula Botero, recognized former player who was part of the Colombian national teams, what the under-17 in the Middle East It is the opportunity for the country’s soccer players to be given the place they deserve.
“Thanks to these girls, we begin to thank all those pioneers and women who at one time played soccer in secret, who fled the house, who laid the first stones to build what is currently our football. ”.
Botero, today a coach at Eafit University, Comfama and Inder Medellín, maintains that the representatives in India are doing what the athletes of her time also tried years ago: opening paths.
“It is complex what the president of the Federation, Ramón Jesurún, said recently, stating that these athletes are not considered as professionals. But, then, what must be done so that these girls who go out and leave the name of the country high are taken with more seriousness and respect?
Botero added that it is not even about showing it because they have already done it repeatedly with the Colombian National Team and the different clubs in international events. “It’s about once and for all they give us the place we’ve worked for and that we deserve.”
And remember that pleasing results have been obtained for a long time. “But we need to have a league that is consolidated, that the players have more guarantees from the contractual and economic part, and that the tournament is more serious, that it lasts longer, because this will allow the players to perform better. If good things are achieved abroad with such a precarious league, imagine if we had an organized tournament”.
For now, in India the U-17 generates pride, and with its quality it shows that there is a future to cultivate and support.
