World Cup Story Feed
World Cup Story Feed
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, 11th minute. John Arias stomps on Iñaki Williams. The referee shows a yellow card.
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, 11th minute. John Arias stamped on Inaki Williams. The referee pulled out a yellow card.
Arias, having escaped disaster, repaid the favor three minutes later. Right-back Luis Suarez crossed, and he cushioned the ball in with his right foot.
The assisting Suarez shouldn't have been on the pitch. Just minutes into the game, John Cordova pulled his adductor muscle, and he was hastily brought on as a substitute. One injury led to one assist, one yellow card to one goal. The script for a 1-0 win was written in three minutes.
Some have luck on their side; others are just plain unlucky. Luis Diaz's luck in this World Cup seems downright cursed.
In the 56th minute, he scored a goal. Offside, disallowed. This was his third disallowed goal of the tournament. In the group stage against the Democratic Republic of Congo, he had two called back: one in the 79th minute and another in the 80th. He added another against Ghana. With 5 shots, 2 on target, and one big chance missed, the Man of the Match award handed to him afterward felt more like a consolation prize.
Diaz isn't wasting chances alone. The entire Colombian attack line is stuck in neutral.
BBC's stats are straightforward: 20 shots, 8 on target, 61% possession. Ghana's goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi single-handedly made 7 saves, earning a 9.3 rating from Sofascore. The ball stopped when it reached him, as if hitting a wall wearing the number 1 jersey.
This offensive stagnation isn't new. In the group stage against Portugal, Colombia fired off 24 shots for a 0-0 draw. They held possession like a prayer bead, gripping the ball until their palms sweated, but couldn't breach the goal.
Coach Lorenzo laid it out before the match: "We have a strategic plan to shut them down and frustrate them from the first minute until halftime."
Against Ghana, he indeed managed to shut them down. As for frustrating the opponent, it certainly wasn't thanks to the forwards.
At halftime, he substituted James Rodriguez. Multiple media outlets confirmed it was a purely tactical decision, unrelated to fitness. Richard Rios replaced him, but the front line's rhythm remained constipated. Lorenzo was candid after the game: "We created some chances but didn't score, but I like how we defended. We weren't under threat, and that's important."
"Not under threat." Those five words are Colombia's true strength.
In 4 games, they've conceded only 1 goal, which came in the group stage opener against Uzbekistan. Since then, three consecutive clean sheets.
Against Ghana, the opponent had 0 shots on target. In their 4 games this tournament, Ghana managed just 4 shots on target, better only than Iraq among the 48 teams. Historically, Ghana has never beaten a South American team in the World Cup. This 0 shots on target performance wrote the most extreme chapter of their "South American phobia." Of the 9 African teams qualifying for the round of 32, 7 were eliminated in this round. Ghana is no exception, just the most frustratingly defeated.
No star defensive midfielders, no sky-high priced center-backs. 22-year-old Gustavo Puerta has emerged. Born in July 2003, he plays for Racing Santander in La Liga, valued at 10 million euros. L'Equipe calls him a "key new discovery" of the tournament.
Lorenzo has locked the game in a safe with a squad of workhorses. Whatever the forwards waste up front, the defense meticulously recovers at the back.
This is how Colombia has arrived at this point: a defense conceding 1 goal in 4 games, a front line scoring 5 goals in 4 games.
With this ticket to Vancouver, their next opponent awaits.
July 7th, Switzerland.
With 2 wins and 1 draw in the group stage, scoring 7 goals, and a 2-0 win over Algeria in the Round of 32, they secured their first World Cup knockout stage victory in 88 years. In 4 games, Switzerland has scored 9.
Colombia in 4 games: 5.