Colombia’s dream lives on

A goal and an assist from Luis Díaz, and goals from Miguel Borja and Matheus Uribe keep the dream of the colombian team to go to Qatar World Cup by way of the playoffs after thrashing 3-0 this Thursday against Bolivia in the penultimate day of the South American qualifiers.

With this victory, the coffee growers also broke a streak of seven games without scoring. In addition to the Liverpool player, striker Miguel Borja and midfielder Matheus Uribe scored for the locals and with this his team climbed to sixth place in the standings with 20 points, one less than Peru, which provisionally occupies fifth place which gives the right to play the playoff

La Verde, which arrived without opportunities to qualify, fell to penultimate place with today’s defeat and will close the qualifiers at home against Brazil, while the Colombians will play the pass to the playoffs as visitors against Venezuela. Peru will receive Paraguay.

The hosts dominated the game from the first moments led by James Rodríguez and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, who began to look for ways to break the numerous defense of La Verde.

That was how Rueda’s team created the first opportunity in the fourth minute in a counterattack in which Díaz took advantage of a mistake by defender Marc Enoumba and, despite the ball going long, he passed it to Cuadrado, who finished off and He met José María Carrasco on the way, who put the body and avoided the goal.

The locals continued to attack and were able to score with shots from James, Sinisterra and Díaz that went wide or were saved by Rubén Cordano, who was very focused in the face of constant coffee attacks.

However, the Colombians opened the scoring in the 28th minute in a play in which Cuadrado sent a long pass to Díaz, who undid it with a hook from Enoumba and took an unstoppable right hand for the Bolivian goalkeeper. After the goal, the local team had another opportunity to extend the lead with a header from full-back Daniel Muñoz that crashed into the post.

After the break, the Bolivian coach, the Venezuelan César Farías, sent Ramiro Vaca onto the pitch and then Jaume Cuéllar and Héctor Sánchez with the aim of breaking Colombian dominance.

However, those led by Rueda maintained control and continued to attack, especially on the left flank where Díaz and winger Frank Fabra did a lot of damage due to the impotence of the Bolivian defense.

This is how the 2-0 came when Cuadrado joined Díaz, who sent a cross for Borja who anticipated the center-back and with a header he made the entire stadium celebrate at 71.

Rueda’s team closed the game with a free kick in which Jefferson Lerma headed, the ball crashed into the post and on the rebound Uribe, who had only been on the court for a few minutes, sent the ball into the back of the net in minute 91.

DATASHEET

3 – Colombia: David Ospina, Daniel Muñoz, Carlos Cuesta, William Tesillo, Frank Fabra; Gustavo Cuéllar, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado (d.73, Yairo Moreno), James Rodríguez (d.73, Matheus Uribe), Luis Fernando Muriel (d.64, Miguel Borja), Luis Díaz (d.83, Jefferson Lerma) and Luis Sinisterra (m.64, Juan Fernando Quintero).
Coach: Reinaldo Rueda
0 – Bolivia: Ruben Cordano; Marc Enoumba (m.73, Jairo Quinteros), Luis Haquín, José María Carrasco, José Sagredo, Roberto Carlos Fernández; Franz Gonzáles, Moisés Villarroel (m.83, Gabriel Villamil), John García (m.56, Héctor Sánchez), Juan Montenegro (m.56, Jaume Cuéllar); and César Menacho (m.46, Ramiro Vaca).
Coach: Cesar Farias
Goals: 1-0, Luis Diaz (m. 38); 2-0, Miguel Borja (m. 71); 3-0, Matheus Uribe (d. 91)
Referee: Argentine Facundo Tello. He admonished Haquín, García and Carrasco, Cuadrado and Enoumba
Incidents: match of the penultimate round of the South American Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup played at the Metropolitan Stadium in Barranquilla