The FUTVE League is exciting and provides great moments every weekend, but in the continental cups it is usually much more difficult for the teams from the “Vinotinto” country. Here’s what happened this week on the continent, where Monagas and Estudiantes de Mérida both recorded shock defeats.

Copa Libertadores: Monagas finally victorious

Of the four Venezuelan teams that could qualify for the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, the most important continental competition in South America, only two qualified. That was Monagas and Metropolitanos, who qualified directly due to their positions in the Liga FUTVE 2022.

Both Carabobo and Zamora went to the preliminary phase of the competition organized by CONMEBOL and lost to Atletico Mineiro and Boston River respectively. Both losses left both teams out of international tournaments.

For their part, Monagas have two draws, two defeats and one win from their five games played, which puts them third in Group F (they share a group with Boca Juniors, Deportivo Pereira and Colo Colo). Their only win came last night, over Deportivo Pereira. They can still qualify for the Round-of-16 stage.

Metropolitanos has Internacional of Brazil, Nacional of Uruguay and Independiente of Medellin in its group. And they have four defeats in four matches, which puts them last in Group A.

Copa Sudamericana

In the continent’s second most important tournament, four Venezuelan teams qualified for the preliminary phase. The difference was that these four teams (Puerto Cabello, Deportivo Táchira, Estudiantes de Mérida and Caracas) played against each other in order to qualify for the group stage of the continental competition.

Estudiantes de Mérida beat Deportivo Táchira and Puerto Cabello did the same against Caracas to earn a place among the 32 teams that qualified for the Copa Sudamericana.

Before last night, both qualified teams had yet to score a point in the group stage, finishing bottom of their respective groups.

But Estudiantes de Merida pulled off a shock 1-0 defeat of group leaders Fortaleza from Brazil last night to pick up their first victory of the tournament. They’re unable to reach the next round, but can salvage some pride at the end of this campaign.

Puerto Cabello remain rooted at the bottom of their group, with a goal difference of -10 (1 goal scored and 11 conceded), while Estudiantes de Mérida have a goal difference of -11 (2 goals scored and 13 conceded).

History of Venezuelan teams in South American competitions

It is worth noting that, throughout the history of both competitions, no Venezuelan team has ever been a real protagonist. As far as the Copa Libertadores is concerned, the best stage that Vinotinto teams have been able to reach is the quarter-finals, with Caracas being the last to do so in 2009. They eventually lost to Gremio of Brazil.

Of the 14 times that Venezuelan teams have made it past the group stage, only four times have they made it past the Round-of-16 (Minervén in 1994, Estudiantes de Mérida in 1999, Deportivo Táchira in 2004 and Caracas in 2009).

Meanwhile, in the Copa Sudamericana, only four teams have made it out of the group stage since the first participation of a Venezuelan team in the competition (2002). These were La Guaira (2016), Caracas (2018 and 2019), Zulia (who reached the quarter-finals in 2019), and finally Deportivo Táchira (who fell in the quarter-finals in the 2022 edition).

In a landscape of South American football historically dominated by Brazil and Argentina in terms of international competitions, Venezuelan teams have not yet managed to make the leap in quality that would lead them to at least be able to fight in one of the two continental cups organized by CONMEBOL. Perhaps Monagas will change that this year.