Thanks for the insight, jagum, and I agree that it must be difficult for Deyna: she could have escaped Venezuela's difficult situation by moving to USA, but her family remains there. I sure hope Venezuela's Senior Team will qualify for WWC 2019: I want to see Castellanos, Garcia, Rodriguez & Co. on the big stage of the top women's football competition in France. How likely is it that they manage to qualify? If I remember well, there are 2.5 spots available, and it's difficult not to think that one of them will surely go to Brazil. So, how hard fought the competition will be for the remaining(s) spot(s)? Who are the best candidates to make it? And the play-off for the third spot will be against a CONCACAF's team? Ok, I am aware that probably this is the wrong thread for all of these questions...
Congratulations, especially for Paraguay, that I didn't expect at all to qualify (although they sure qualified to some Youth World Cups before; but when they do, they're oftentimes crushed: I remember a 10-0 loss to Japan at U-17 WWC 2014 in Costa Rica... ).
Jagum is better qualified to answer how likely Venezuela is to qualify. I can answer your other question though: you're right on the number of spots. CONMEBOL has 2.5, and CONCACAF has 3.5. The last spot is determined by a home-and-away playoff between the third place team in CONMEBOL and the fourth place team in CONCACAF.
Interesting. Many Venezuelan footballers have spoken out, against both football federation and gov't, without putting any lives in danger. The truth is that Castellanos has personal ties to the son of a football federation vicepresident. Her life is far removed from Venezuela's tough living standards. Put simply, Castellanos stayed neutral to protect her political standing. She would not risk her recent appointment as 2018 Conmebol Youth Ambassador. Same goes for Zseremeta, he eventually denied complaining about players' malnutrition in order to keep gov't housing given to his mother. Both figures played politics to preserve their privileges. I cannot blame them for having a self-preservation instinct, they worked hard after all. Venezuela should move its focus from saviors towards real player development. Conmebol rivals have professional players on stronger leagues, while Venezuela top stars play either non-professional football (Castellanos, Herrera) or low-tier leagues (Lourdes Moreno, Gabriela García). My opinion is that Venezuela has better chances at the U17 level, where players have not accumulated professional experience. South American qualifiers for (Senior) Women's World Cup run from April 4th to 22nd. A poor calendar choice by Conmebol, because professional players will have to decide between club and nation. Venezuela's L.Moreno and G.García are fighting promotion to the Spanish 1st division, their decision will be tough. Godspeed to both Brazil and Paraguay. Hoping they will do much better than prior Conmebol squads at the U-20 World Cup.
The Copa America Femenina 2018 looks full of questions for Venezuela. Our senior team does not usually play many games. Between 2016-2017 we played 5 games: losing 3 times with Colombia (1-0 / 1-0 / 2-0) Mexico (3-1) and a win against Trinidad and Tobago (1-3) using mostly local tournament players . That lack of continuity and international friendlies makes me think that we will not be among the top 4 of the Conmebol tournament. Only if a serious job is done prior to this tournament and if the stars align maybe we could reach the final round of this Copa America. At the end of the day there is very good material: Deyna Castellanos, Orina Altuve (Independiente Santa Fe), Daniuska Rodriguez, Ysaura Viso as well as many of the girls of the sub20. Along with Lourdes Moreno and Gabriela Garcia (who together with Deyna formed a brilliant duo in the South American sub-17 and the U-17 world). Brazil will always be the favorite, the rest of the spots I see very close with Colombia, Paraguay and even the Chilean team that will be local and has achieved overwhelming results in friendly games before their neighbors. Ecuador and Argentina for their part will not be easy and can surprise ( Ecuador was in Canada 2015 ) . Uruguay, Peru and Bolivia are at a lower level.
Brazil crushes Paraguay 8-1 and is the Conmebol Champion again . Colombia gets the third place after beating Venezuela 2-0. The difference between Brazil and the rest is abysmal.
A side note regarding South American u20 squads. The South American Games 2018 (Odesur 2018) have wrapped up at Cochabamba, Bolivia. Women's football was part of it, where six u20 female squads participated: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay. Obviously, not all squads used the same players from the Conmebol u20 qualifiers (January 2018). Podium: Gold for Paraguay, Silver for Colombia, and Bronze for Ecuador. Standings: Rank....Team.........MP...W..D..L..GF..GA...Dif....Pts 1..... Paraguay....5.....4..1...0..13...3...+10....13 2 .... Colombia...5.....3..2...0...6....2.....+4.....11 3..... Ecuador......5.....1..3...1...3....4.....-1.......6 4..... Chile...........5.....1..2...2...7....9.....-2.......5 5..... Argentina...5.....1..1...3...9....8.....+1......4 6..... Bolivia........5.....0..1...4...1...13...-12......1
Conmebol's Liga Sudamericana de Futbol Sub-19 is a new tournament for women's soccer development. https://feminafutbol.com/noticias/c...sudamericana-de-futbol-femenino-sub-19-24854/ Running through September 16-22, u19 squads will play in 2 groups: North group @ Guayaquil, Ecuador: COL, ECU, PAR, PER, VEN. South group @ Buenos Aires, Argentina: ARG, BOL, BRA, CHI, URU. Only group-stage matches will be played. It is a bit unclear how the tournament champion, if any, will be declared. Each squad will be composed of 19 players. Indeed, there will be ~48hrs rest between matches. No, inter-group matches will not happen. Yes, southern group is likely to benefit more, in preparation towards 2020 u20 qualifiers. True to its form, Conmebol has not announced specifically when+where its 2020 Women's u20 qualifiers will be.
Groups announced for the WWC U-20 qualification 🌎 South America's two participants at the #U20WWC will be decided next month. Here's how the opening groups will line up.The top two teams in the final stage will earn themselves tickets to 🇨🇷Costa Rica & 🇵🇦Panama!🎟️🎟️ The qualifiers kick off on 4 March. https://t.co/wkh1YQU3Kb— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) February 11, 2020