But now Venezuelans have another sport they can really be proud of: football.

Not only the “vinotinto” team almost qualified for the 2010 World Cup, finishing two points shy from the fifth place, but also the under 20 squad did well in Egypt.

After knocking out Argentina in the South American qualifiers early this year, expectation was high in Venezuela for the U20 World Cup. Drawn in a difficult group, with Spain and Nigeria, seemed like another failure was on the way to the Venezuelans. Not this time!

After a surprising win at the debut match over Nigeria, in a game that really could have gone either way – given the chances when both teams lost -, Venezuela went on to get three points and a classification to the round of 16 with a blowout over Tahiti. The last game of the group stage was a defeat to Spain, that hit hard with 3 goals and fully dominated the game.

One of the team main players is Del Valle, a fast forward that plays mostly through the right lane of the field and scored four goals during the U20 World Cup, including the one over Nigeria (the first official Venezuelan goal in a Fifa tournament). Del Valle remains playing in Venezuela at Deportivo TáchirA, one of the biggest clubs of the country.

The other forward, striker Rondon, is playing in Spanish side Las Palmas. He is a strong striker that has good position skills in the box. Other notables are goalkeeper Rafael Romo, already in the Udinese roster in Italy and midfielder Peña, that is considered the most promising young player from Venezuela, and is already playing at Portuguese League sensation Braga.

A shocking defeat on the round of 16 to UAE finished the Venezuelan dream. However, becoming a team that is respected in South America can be a real achievement, fans and  players from Venezuela are now able to dream of that.

Picture by Suhaib Salem/Reuters