Salomon Rondon discusses Venezuela’s World Cup qualifying campaign, wanting to honour previous Vinotinto legends, and the desire to put the ‘icing’ on his career’s cake.
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Venezuela are in the mix to reach a maiden World Cup finals
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National icon Salomon Rondon is spearheading their assault on the tournament
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He wants to honour previous Vinotinto legends
There is no let-up in ambition for Salomon Rondon. Now 35, El Gladiador remains steadfast in his hope of making history with Venezuela by qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 26™. The Vinotinto’s all-time top scorer with 43 goals, and their leading marksman in FIFA World Cup™ qualifying with 13, now has his sights firmly set on guiding his country to football’s greatest stage.
As he gears up for a home encounter with Brazil in Maturin followed by a trip to Chile, the iconic Venezuelan frontman spoke to FIFA about his side’s aspirations on the road to the FIFA World Cup 26, with the preliminary competition already having passed the halfway stage in South America.
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FIFA: How does it feel to be leading Venezuela’s quest to qualify for their first FIFA World Cup?
Salomon Rondon: Qualifying for our first World Cup at senior level is something we all dream about – including those who’ve represented our country in the past, as well as the current and future crop – since it’s something our country has never managed to do.
We’ve competed well in qualifying before, but we’ve never quite made it over the line, despite having come very close. For me, CONMEBOL is the most difficult qualifying zone in the world. We thrive on the pressure because it’s something we dream of achieving. We’re really excited and relishing the prospect of making it to the 2026 World Cup.
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As a role model and leader in this side, can you enjoy the good times or does your responsibility not allow you to get carried away?
I’ve been one of the most experienced and longest-serving players in the national team for some time now, and I certainly enjoy the good times. You reach the point where you realise your playing days are numbered, and you have to take it all in and enjoy it. There’s a heavy responsibility, and you can’t afford to take your eye off the ball or get carried away, because the qualifying campaign is relentless.
You can switch off a little between games, but the training sessions are intense. You have to adapt, which isn’t easy, but you learn to enjoy the wins at the time and perhaps even for 15 or 20 minutes in the dressing room afterwards, in my case at least. But then you have to quickly shift your attention to the next game, because they come thick and fast.
Juan Arango, Jorge Alberto Rojas, and Luis Vallenilla are just some of the nation’s heroes who have never reached the World Cup. Do you see this as a chance to honour them?
It isn’t just us, it’s those who tried before us and those coming through for the future – we all yearn to take Venezuela to our first World Cup. We’ve had some top players with real quality and successful careers who gave it everything. Having been a part of it myself, it can sometimes be frustrating, having seen first-hand the effort that everyone put in, but you can only put the bit between your teeth and keep your eyes on the prize.
Going to the World Cup is one of my main ambitions, and it’d be the icing on the cake for my career. Qualifying for the World Cup, playing at the finals and sharing the stage with the best national teams in the world would be a truly remarkable, unprecedented and peerless feat in our country’s footballing history. To be the first side to achieve that would live long in the memory.
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With eight games left, Venezuela are outside the play-off spot by one point and the automatic spots by two. How do you see things unfolding?
We’ve still got eight games to play, and we’re only a point off the play-off place, but we’re under no illusions. We face Brazil at home next and then travel to Chile, and we just need to focus on winning football matches. We have to go into every game looking for the win, because that’s the only way we’ll make it to the World Cup. We came back from Brazil with a priceless point, but that’ll count for nothing if we don’t get some wins under our belt in our last eight outings, both at home and away. We have to go for maximum points in every game and try to climb as high up the table as possible.
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Including that Brazil game you have four home matches left, where you’re currently unbeaten. What’s the atmosphere like at the Estadio Monumental de Maturin?
The atmosphere at the Monumental is amazing. The crowd have got right behind us throughout the qualifying campaign, which has been really special and pretty spectacular. But we must continue to make it a fortress. We haven’t lost a game on home turf yet, and the only goal we’ve conceded was in our last home encounter, but we have to keep going. That alone won’t be enough. We need to go and compete and win on our travels as well. There are teams that are struggling at the moment, and we must take advantage of that. We have to win our home games no matter who we’re up against because, as I said earlier, the only way to make it to the World Cup is by winning football matches. We have to come out on top in those home matches you mentioned against Peru and Bolivia, but we also have to beat the other sides still to come to Venezuela, just like when we beat Chile 3-0. That was a real morale booster. We need to start stringing some wins together.
We’ve talked about the bigger picture, but what would it mean for you on a personal level to line up at the FIFA World Cup?
On a personal level, playing at the World Cup is the greatest thing that can happen to any player, and even more so given that Venezuela have never made it before. It’d be the cherry on top of a fantastic career for me.
Finally, what are your fondest World Cup memories?
The 2002 World Cup, which Brazil won, is the one I remember best. Ronaldo Nazario was always the player who made the biggest impression on me. I remember his two goals in the final, and he was the player I enjoyed watching the most at that tournament.
