Venezuela vs Mexico preview, team news, tickets & prediction

Venezuela continue their 2024 Copa America journey with a daunting fixture against Mexico who are among the top 15 ranked national teams in the world.

Venezuela takes on Mexico on Matchday 2 of their Copa America schedule with an eye on a potentially important result in the battle for the next round.

Mexico have the upper hand in their head-to-head history, winning the most recent encounter 3-1 in a friendly, but their last meeting in this competition’s group stage ended 1-1 in 2016.

This latest fixture could go right down to the wire as a quarterfinal spot is well within reach for both teams in a group also containing Ecuador and Jamaica.

Football not being the most popular sport in Venezuela has contributed to their lack of success on the Copa America stage. However, they have gradually evolved from that as they finally reached the quarterfinals for the first time in history while hosting the tournament in 2007.

Venezuela did one better four years later in Argentina by finishing in the semifinal before losing the third-place match to Peru. They will now be taking part in their 20th Copa America and having never qualified for a World Cup, they could be dangerous for their group opponents.

La Vinotinto is currently fourth in the 10-team CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying group with two wins and a defeat from six games, but they occupy that position solely thanks to a three-point deduction for Ecuador.

Nevertheless, Venezuela have shown glimpses of promise under Fernando Batista and despite losing the opening game of their World Cup qualifying campaign against Colombia, they quickly bounced back with a 1-0 success over Paraguay thanks to Salomon Rondon’s added-time winner.

Another late goal was needed to tie the game away to Brazil but they didn’t need such intervention in the next match which they won 3-0 against Chile. Back-to-back draws followed against Ecuador and Peru in November 2023 while they lost 2-1 to Italy in friendly action.

The March international break was rounded off with a stalemate against Guatemala and it exposed their weakness of goalscoring as an area where they need immediate improvement.

There is more than enough motivation to achieve something remarkable at this tournament amidst a crippling economic crisis at home.

They crashed out in the group stage of the last Copa and would be keen on reaching the knockout stage at least, much like they did in 2016 and 2019 where they left the competition at the quarterfinal stage.

They will meet a tougher and better team in Mexico but the ambition to qualify from their group is enough to reduce the margins and make this a very interesting battle.

On the other hand, Diego Cocca was appointed as Mexico’s head coach in February 2023 and he led them to two wins and three draws in his first five matches. The CONCACAF Nations League semi-final did not go according to plan as it ended in a 3-0 defeat and a third-place playoff against Panama which they won.

The manner of their embarrassing defeat to the USA led to a massive outcry and the sacking of Cocca to be replaced by Jaime Lozano ahead of their Gold Cup campaign which started with a 4-0 thrashing of Honduras.

Haiti were also defeated but Qatar’s win in the final group game did not affect their passage to the quarterfinal against Costa Rica. Henry Martin, Luis Chavez and Roberto Alvarado all struck in a comprehensive semi-final victory over Jamaica which led them to a 1-0 win over Panama in the final.

Lozano was promoted from interim to permanent head coach and there were three draws with one win over their next four friendly matches. However, Mexico began the Nations League Last Eight tournament with a defeat to Honduras in the first leg of the quarterfinal.

El Tri bounced back in the home leg to tie the game 2-2 on aggregate and won in the penalty shootout, advancing to the Copa America and a date against Panama in the semis.

The final international window of the 2023/24 season saw Mexico defeat Panama 3-0 in the semi-final and plot to dethrone the USA but they imploded again in a 2-nil defeat.

Being the most successful national team in CONCACAF, El Tri is arguably at its lowest point in decades having exited the last World Cup in the group stage for the first time in 44 years and failed to qualify for the Olympics tournament for the first time since 2008.

The up-and-down nature of their fortunes is emphasized by a turnover of three managers in the last 15 months with only three wins in their last nine games already ringing alarm bells over their current manager’s future.

Nevertheless, Mexico have great defensive strength and is famously hard to break down, they must harness that core in a major tournament this summer

Additionally, they are poised to top Group B but must get through tricky opponents like Venezuela to actualise that expectation.

Match tickets

This Copa America matchday 2 fixture takes place on Thursday, 27 June 2024 with kick-off scheduled for 2 AM UK time. Match tickets are available for sale on the websites of both national federations as well as the tournament organizers so you can hurry to purchase yours.

Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium is the venue for this match and both sets of fans would duly attend in large numbers with the arena accommodating around 70,000 individuals. Demand for match tickets could be high and we are urging supporters who want to attend to purchase them quickly as official sources could be overwhelmed.

Hence, those still in search of Venezuela vs Mexico tickets can buy them on a ticket resale site.

Team news

Venezuela has little to no injury concerns ahead of the tournament.

Mexico had a couple of injury concerns in the March international window with Israel Reyes and Victor Guzman sidelined due to injury. They should yet be back available for the start of Copa America.

Line-ups

As the nation’s record goalscorer with more than 40 goals in over 100 appearances, Salomon Rondon is the go-to player for Venezuela and he will be one of the first names on the team sheet in his fifth Copa America tournament

Venezuela: Romo; Gonzalez, Osorio, Angel, Navarro; Savarino, Rincon, Herrera, Soteldo; Martinez, Rondon

Edson Alvarez plays a crucial role in the Mexico midfield with his presence giving the team a reliable shield for the back four. The West Ham man is one of the team’s leaders and he must put in batting performances for any success that El Tri attain this summer.

Mexico: Ochoa; Sanchez, Montes, Vasquez, Gallardo; Sanchez, Alvarez, Chavez; Lozano, Martin, Gimenez

Prediction

Mexico have won three and drawn three of the last seven fixtures against Venezuela but we think this one is likely to be a draw.

Both sides have not been at their best recently and considering there is no outstanding team in their group, they might just be happy with a point each here.

Venezuela 1-1 Mexico