KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Columbia’s plans for Friday night’s game against Ghana probably didn’t include making a substitution in the opening minutes of the game.
This plan was also thwarted when John Cordova appeared to hurt his groin.
Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo was forced to make a rare early move, sending Luis Suárez onto the field and immediately lofting a sharp cross that found the back of the net for John Arias to score the only goal on a sweltering night at Arrowhead Stadium, sending Los Cafeteros into contention. world cup round of 16 They won 1-0 against the Black Stars.
“I think football is a team sport,” Lorenzo said. “Ultimately, there are small groups in certain areas, but you need a unit, a whole. And I think our team has been working on that from the beginning. That’s been the goal from the beginning.”
The early goal boded well. Colombia’s first goal gave them their 11th consecutive World Cup victory. Well, it happens play in switzerland The quarterfinals will be played on Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“We haven’t won anything at all,” Colombian star Luis Diaz said. “These games are very difficult. All the games I’ve seen so far have been close. The good and positive thing is that we’re playing very well, we feel comfortable, we’re like a family and we’re working as a team. That’s going to carry us forward.”
Los Cafeteros looked to have doubled their lead in the 56th minute, but Diaz’s effort found the back of the net but the offside flag was raised and the speedy Colombian forward’s close-range shot was saved by Lawrence Ati Gigi minutes later.
Gigi ended up making seven saves to keep Ghana in the game.
“Sometimes in soccer things don’t go your way,” said Ghanaian defender Jerome Opoku.
When the game kicked off at 8:30 p.m. local time, the temperature was 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius), with a heat index of 96, an intentionally late start. Due to the expected heat Summer in the Midwest. The controversial hydration break for many games suddenly became a blessing as players on both teams suffered from dehydration and cramps.
Ghana was one of a record nine teams from Africa to make it through the World Cup group stage. And while many threw a fit at some of the favorites to win the tournament, namely Cape Verde vs. Argentina, only Morocco and Egypt could make it advance to the round of 16.
“It’s always nice to break out of the group,” Opoku says. “Obviously we wanted to go further.”
Colombia easily made it through the group stage, winning against Uzbekistan and Congo and conceding just one goal in a draw with Portugal. In fact, Los Cafeteros’ performance was so impressive that Spain coach Luis de la Fuente (whose team is seen as one of the favorites to win the tournament) named them as the favorites to win the World Cup.
Their fans certainly believe in them.
The home of the NFL’s Chiefs has three tiers of seating, with yellow seats sandwiched between red seats. Still, the entire bowl of the stadium just east of downtown Kansas City was awash in Columbia’s bright yellow about two hours before kickoff.
Ghana knew they would be the underdogs. But the team, which missed out on qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in almost 20 years last year, had already answered much of the criticism by surviving a difficult group led by England and Croatia.
The question facing Colombia was whether Ghana could mount a sufficient attack.
As expected, Los Cafeteros dominated the ball. The Black Stars had just 36.1% possession in the group stage, the second lowest of any team that advanced, and these attacking problems continued against Colombia. Even when Ghana managed to build an attack, Colombia quickly counterattacked with the speed of Suarez, Diaz, and their midfielders.
Ghana had eight shots against Colombia. None of them were goals.
Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said, “It was a tough game. As expected, I think it was a tough game for both teams.” “Colombia started the game exactly as we expected, full speed, intense passing. We responded and tried to stop them, but unfortunately the goal came too early for us.”
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