While the second round of the FUTVE League resumes, last weekend saw the two first legs of the semi-finals for promotion to the first division.

Four teams for a dream: the FUTVE League

Bolívar, who finished the regular season as at the top of the Central-Eastern stage and made a solid comeback against Trujillanos in the quarterfinals, managed to reaffirm their promising momentum by beating Marítimo 1-0 at home.

The goal for Edward Leonet’s team was scored by Pereira in the 37th minute of the first half, after great work by the 27-year-old midfielder to find an opening to goal.

With Saturday’s defeat, Marítimo could not sustain their good form coming into the game, having beaten Frontera 4-2 on aggregate in the quarterfinals of the FUTVE League promotion play-offs.

The following day, Ureña (the team with the best score in the entire FUTVE2 League this season), paid a visit to the Héroes de Falcon stadium where they were looking to fulfill the expectations they generated throughout the regular season.

The initial expectations continued into the quarterfinals as they beat Miranda 6-2 on aggregate.

The Caracas side beat Nueva Esparta in the last round, after a thrilling series of matches, where Freddys Gonzalez’s team managed to win 6-4 on aggregate.

Just four minutes into the match, the visitors struck first and took the lead through Washington Jaramillo.

In the final minutes, it seemed that Ureña would be on course to take a great away victory, but in the 92nd minute, Robin Ramos scored an equaliser for Heroes de Falcon.

It leaves the series wide open for the second leg, taking place on Sunday 25 June.

The second round of the FUTVE League is getting closer and closer

The resumption of topflight Venezuelan football will begin on 22 June.

Estudiantes de Mérida will open the second half of the season by hosting Carabobo at their stadium.

Puerto Cabello has a reasonable cushion at the top of the table. They are 9 points ahead of the chasing Deportivo Táchira.

Carabobo and Caracas hold the other two Playoff qualification places, respectively.

It’s looking like a perilous situation for bottom-of-the-table Mineros. They are a team that has been lurking in the relegation zone all season and are currently in last place, three points behind Universidad Central.

The top scorers in the first half of the season were Luifer Hernández, a striker from Puerto Cabello, who scored 8 goals. He is followed by Saúl Guarirapa, from Caracas, with 6 goals and 2 assists.

Take a look at the FUTVE League team of the tournament in the first half of the season:

A new star has arrived for the Venezuelan national team

On 18 June, David Martinez made his debut with the “vinotinto” national team, in the 1-0 victory against Guatemala.

Martinez replaced Yeferson Soteldo after 61 minutes, and in doing so, the Monagas striker became the third youngest player to play for Venezuela, at 17 years, 4 months and 11 days.

A star is most definitely born in Venezuelan football.