In Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and even the refined elite of England and Spain. No league in the world is safe from the arms of managers who at all costs seek to remove or place players in teams and / or youth teams for different interests.
For example, in youth football in our country, it is increasingly common to hear about the story of players who have an opportunity to be selected in a club to be paid a certain amount of money or in exchange for another favor. the popular ‘payola’.
A case like this has drained the Colombian U-20 team from the South American qualifiers that played in the country at the beginning of the year. Tomás Ángel’s absence from Héctor Cárdenas’ team fell like a bomb, explaining that his decision was based on the lack of continuity of the young striker in the first team of Atlético Nacional.
Cárdenas’ argument could be logical, but the case of another player completely contradicts it and opens space for doubt and speculation. While Ángel, who was the captain and scorer of the selection process, had already made his professional debut with the call-up alternative to the Nacional professional team, Isaac Zulette he appeared as his replacement and attracted attention for playing in Spanish football.
Isaac Zuleta, share González Alzate in the sub-20?
Although the great thing is that he belongs to Getafe, the truth is that this attacker, who at the time was considered a prodigy in the youth football of Antioquia, barely had a handful of minutes in the B team this season.
So why not Ángel and Zuleta? This was the question that opened a heated debate on social networks and more after the information was published indicating that the appeal of Isaac was given on the orders of Álvaro González Alzate, the most powerful man in the Colombian Football Federation and whose management that was riddled with. scandal
The benefit of the doubt was for Getafe’s young footballer. The statistics did not support him at all, but it is true that by numbers you should not kill a boy who has just started his professional career. Now the acid test was the field and in South America, a very nervous Zuleta showed that he still has miles to go before wearing the national jersey. Was the rumor right?
Think wrong and be right
Despite their good games and high points in other positions, the Colombian National Team suffered more due to the low level of many strikers called up. Neither Isaac nor Ricardo Caraballo responded to the opportunities and Cárdenas had to improvise with Jorge Cabezas Hurtado (wing) as center forward, and it worked. Therefore, it was a big surprise that the Getafe striker was included in the preliminary list of 25 called for the U-20 World Cup.
Think wrong and be right. In addition to this poor performance, Isaac Zulette He barely played 26 minutes distributed in four matches throughout the season with his team in Spain, and that all was in the second half of 2022. This means, after the South American, the attacker did not see a single minute on the field . then?
This contrasts with the current situation of Luis Quintero, who is considered one of the ‘jewels’ of the youth academy of Villarreal and who played almost 3,000 minutes this season and scored 21 goals, and that without a center advanced , but it is extreme. In addition, he was captain on several occasions and even made his debut with the professional team in a friendly against Fenerbache from Turkey last December.
“I have no idea who he is”
“I don’t know him (González Alzate). I have no idea who he is, I’ve never been close to him. I’m here on my own,” Zuleta said in a dialogue with NoticiasRCN.com there. the beginning of the year regarding this rumor… However, what is certain is that his numbers and his performance on the field do not support his appeal to a U-20 World Cup, let alone a player of Quintero’s level on the road.
No one knows the reality of what is happening inside and what motivated Héctor Cárdenas to make this decision, but the presence of Isaac Zulette An U-20 World Cup leaves plenty of doubt and opens the door to all speculation, including a link with González Alzate, the man with the most tentacles in the FCF. Think wrong and be right.
