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Venezuelan striker Salomon Rondon
Tyson comparisons grow as British 21-year-old targets world title
WITH a population of just under 33 million, Venezuela ranks as the fifth most populous country in South America. Only Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Peru are above them.
However, unlike eight of their nine fellow CONMEBOL members, they have never won the Copa America. In fact, between their competition debut in 1967 to when they hosted it for the first time 40 years later, La Vinotinto went 42 consecutive games in the tournament without a win.
Now, higher than they have ever been before in the Fifa World Rankings (26th), head coach Rafael Dudamel is faced with the opportunity of making history. Not only have they failed to secure continental success in their past, but Venezuela have never made it onto the global stage; La Vinotinto are yet to play at a World Cup.
JAMES NALTON argues that Curtis Jones’s departure leaves Liverpool facing a stark local void as the club’s roots are increasingly swallowed by football’s globalised model
Concessions to Washington by the post-Maduro leadership in Caracas are designed to preserve the core of the Bolivarian Revolution not betray it, argue Roger D Harris, Francisco Dominguez and Mara Paez Victor. How the solidarity movement responds is critical
The climate debate has focused on tournaments and fan travel, but the sport’s relationship with fossil fuels stretches back to the Industrial Revolution
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE