Venezuela faces Canada in a match that has no margin for error for either of teams if they wish to advance to the semifinals of the Copa América 2024.
Venezuela advanced to the quarterfinals after qualifying undefeated, winning all three of their group-stage matches against Ecuador, Mexico and Jamaica. Something never achieved by the Vinotinto team in Copa América 2024.
This Copa America 2024 has a large number of absences, many of which refer to players of enormous prestige. Speaking about Venezuela, one of them is that of Josef Martínez, historic striker of the Vinotinto. But this situation has an explanation behind it.
Josef Martínez out of Copa America 2024
Josef Martínez is not playing for Venezuela in the Copa América 2024 quarterfinals against Canada due to a combination of factors. For this Copa América 2024, Batista, Venezuela’s coach, decided to dispense with Josef Martínez. This situation has two main explanations. On the one hand, the striker comes from suffering an injury to his knee, which left him out of the fields for 61 days.
The Venezuelan National team poses before the start of the friendly match against Colombia. Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images
Even if Martinez had made a full recovery, his absence could also be attributed to his lack of participation with the national team in recent months. His last appearance for Venezuela came in October 2023 during a World Cup qualifier against Chile.
That is why with the injury to his knee and his absence in recent months, Martinez lost the possibility of fighting for a place in the team. Consequently, Batista decided to leave him out of the squad for this Copa América 2024 and for these reasons he will not play the quarterfinals with the Venezuelan national team.
