Straight
Colombia’s national team continues to make steady progress in the Copa America. The tricolor team beat a very weak Panama on Saturday followingnoon and secured their place in the semifinals of the tournament. With this victory, Néstor Lorenzo’s team has an unbeaten streak of 27 games without losing and is emerging as one of the possible winners of the tournament being held in the United States. Colombia will face Uruguay next Wednesday, the team led by Marcelo Bielsa, who eliminated Brazil in an agonizing penalty shootout. The other semifinal will be played on Tuesday between Messi’s Argentina and Canada, who also beat Venezuela on penalties this Friday.
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Orlando Mosquera, Jose Cordoba, Eric Davis (Omar Valencia, min. 82), Edgardo Fariña, Roderick Miller (Carlos Harvey, min. 45), Michael Murillo, Jovani Welch, Christian Martinez (Abdiel Ayarza, min. 61), Yoel Barcenas, Cesar Blackman and Jose Fajardo Nelson (Ismael Diaz, min. 84)
Goals 1-0 min. 8: Córdoba. 2-0 min. 15: James. 3-0 min. 40: Luis Díaz. 4-0 min. 70: Richard Rios. 5-0 min. 94: Miguel Borja.
Referee Maurizio Mariani
Yellow cards: Mateus Uribe (min. 44), Jovani Welch (min. 54), Edgardo Fariña (min. 63) and José Córdoba (min. 91)
The Colombian team shined with the monumental left foot of James Rodríguez, who scored a penalty goal at the beginning of the match and made two assists. James’ moment is wonderful. No one questions it anymore. The number ten, the historic captain, the leader of the team, has five assists in this tournament and is seen as the best player in the cup. His performance recalls the best games of the illuminated James in the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, ten years ago, when he led Colombia to the quarterfinals and was the top scorer of the tournament. In addition to Rodríguez’s goal, the tricolor defeated Panama 5-0 with goals from Jhon Córdoba, Luis Díaz, Richard Ríos and Miguel Ángel Borja.
Colombia dominated the entire match without any problems. Before twenty minutes of the first half, the tricolor was already winning 2-0. The first goal was scored by Jhon Córdoba with a header, following a corner kick by James Rodríguez. Córdoba won the starting forward position from Rafael Santos Borré. The second was a penalty by Rodríguez that was impossible for goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera. After the two goals, there were a few minutes in which the Panamanian team tried to come back, but goalkeeper Camilo Vargas prevented the goal scoring options.
Minutes later, James Rodríguez showed his talent once more. He quickly took a free kick from the middle of the field for Lucho Díaz to beat the goalkeeper and seal the 3-0. In the second half, Colombia maintained control of the game. Midfielder Richard Ríos scored a long-distance goal and Miguel Ángel Borja scored the 5-0 with a penalty in the last minute.
At the end of the match, James celebrated the victory: “A tough match, they are strong, but we started in a very good way, we knew how to score goals quickly and that gave us control of the match,” said Rodríguez. He added: “I wanted to have a very good cup, to help my teammates to go far, today we are going until the last day, we hope to reach that final that we all want,” added the Colombian captain.
Colombia’s overwhelming victory confirms the statements of Uruguay’s coach, Marcelo Bielsa, who on Saturday morning clearly assessed the quality of the Colombian team’s attack. “Colombia is a team with too many forwards and that is not common in the world of football. It is a team that has more than one option for each position, and without great differences between the one who starts and the one who comes in. All these things can be verified because they are not my opinions, they are realities,” said Bielsa in a press conference. He added: “The Colombian player has undergone a transformation because they play in the best leagues in the world and compete naturally. So to the freshness and predominantly creative football that has always distinguished the expressions of that country, now they have added what is indispensable to survive in today’s football.”
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