Sunday, November 19th, 2023.- Close to three thousand people arrived at the Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida to support Chile's CP football team in their match against Venezuela. And although things seemed promising after two early goals from the home team, in the end, the Venezuelans showed more experience and ended up winning 4-2. 

In the 2nd minute of the game, Patricio Saavedra, with a precise long-range shot, put Chile in the lead, igniting the local fans in the stands. Two minutes later, following a similar play, Bastián Velásquez made it 2-0 for the red team, which, on this occasion, wore blue. 

Chile's intense first 10 minutes were cause for optimism, but Venezuela reacted, and through their captain, José Luis Quintana, managed to pull one back with only six minutes remaining before halftime. 

In the second half, Venezuela came out strong in search of the equalizer, which they found at 38' through Jessi Yari. With the score matched, the Chileans became desperate and disorganized, while the llaneros (Venezuelans) continued to attack and added another goal through their top scorer Anthony Rea (who had scored two goals against Canada), increasing the lead to 3-2 with a free-kick at 51'. 

As the game was coming to an end (60+1), Venezuela sealed the deal (4-2) with another goal from José Luis Quintana, this time from a penalty kick. 

Chilean player Patricio Saavedra lamented the local team's second defeat: "We're sad. We lacked composure and experience to handle the match with the score in our favor. We had 10 or 15 very good minutes, and due to lapses in concentration, we lost. The scoreline resulted from errors, such a lopsided scoreline doesn't seem fair to us." 

Regarding the support from the crowd at the Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida, Saavedra mentioned, "All we can do is apologize to the people and thank them for their unconditional support. We have three finals left, and we'll continue fighting until the end." 

CP football is a variation of 7-a-side football adapted for people with cerebral palsy. It follows FIFA rules with some adaptations related to the minimum conditions of parity that must exist between the two teams. 



Written by Marcelo López/Rodrigo Vargas; translated by Vicente Valdivia / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport 
Ph: Jonnathan Oyarzún / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport