Carlos Antonio Velez reveals his two best players in the history of Colombian football

Carlos Antonio Vélez, who has been active on social media for the last few days commenting on the failure of the Colombian team not to attend the Qatar 2022 World Cup, announced who are the two best players in the history of national football. It is striking that none are part of the generation that qualified Brazil 2014.

The analyst, honored for his 50-year career in sports journalism, was asked at Win Sports, where he was interviewed, by the footballer he liked the most. Although he said that the decision is difficult, given that each era has its references, he highlighted Willington Ortiz and Faustino Asprilla.

As for Ortiz, a four-time champion with América de Cali, present in four qualifiers with the Tricolor and chosen as the best Colombian footballer of the 20th century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), he commented:

About Faustino, remembered for his demeanor on the playing field, but also for how decisive he scored, he commented: “The second one is definitely one of my great football weaknesses, Asprilla, was an extraordinary player.”

As for the player most ahead of his time due to his technical conditions, only this time internationally, he answered without hesitation that for him it was the Dutch Johan Cruyff, considered the best footballer of the 20th century, behind Pelé. “He was the first in intensity, in pressure, the first to do all those things that are new today... That man marked a route on which today, everyone is trying to play,” he said.

After the end of the playoffs in the victory for the slightest difference over Venezuela, Carlos Antonio Velez criticized both the coaches who led Colombia and the players. In the first instance, he said: “We were wobbly... to Russia we were “fixing” the classification with the “Lima Pact” and, now, for one point, we were left out. DT and solidarity players are responsible. They handed out points to get Queiroz out and Rueda couldn't. Failed in character and update. End of cycle.”

Afterwards, he made a comment that sparked controversy on social networks and the reactions of some coffee players who had World Cup experience, such as Carlos Valdés. Velez's note, in which, among others, he alluded to James Rodriguez was:

Meanwhile, Valdés's response, one of the key players in the Brazil 2018 World Cup, was: “And many were led to believe that going to a world cup was easy and that he led a taxi driver and that he had to leave because he didn't make this generation world champion.” The topic of discussion in the coming days will be who should lead the team and lead the generational change, one of the names that sounds like that of Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa.

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