The World Cup: Colombia

ThisDrinkingLife and The World Cup: Colombia

Colombia impressed in the last World Cup, or more importantly James Rodríguez did. He was a bit of a revelation four years ago and scored some very impressive goals ending up as the tournament’s top scorer. A big move to real Madrid materialized, but he couldn’t recreate the same magic with the Spanish club and so was loaned out to Bayern therein after, where he has rediscovered some of his old form. Perhaps playing on the centre stage again will revive his career and Colombia can once again shine at the World Cup. I certainly hope so as when he is playing well he is a delight to watch.

To be fair its not only about Rodríguez, they also have a good squad too. David Ospina is decent enough in goals, Juan Cuadrado is a real work horse in midfield, and Radamel Falcao up front is the type of striker that defenders hate to play against, in your face, strong, and has the ability to smash them in from all angles, albeit he can be lazy enough in games too. But he missed the last World Cup through injury so I am sure he will want to get going this time round.

Luckily for them, they got by far the most open group of them all. Paired with Poland, Japan and Senegal, the top two places are up for grabs and could conceivable go to any of the four teams. Playing Japan first is a great advantage for Colombia who can hit the ground running with three points before they play Poland next. A point or more to Poland could give them a bit of breathing space in the last game with Senegal. I fully expect them to come out of this group, winning it most likely. If they do come out of this easy group, unfortunately things take a slide for the worst, as they then most likely will come up against either England or Belgium in round two. They might have a small chance against England, slight, but I wouldn’t give them much hope against a very strong Belgium team. That’s why Colombia really need their star players of Rodríguez, Cuadrado and Falcao to be on form. If not then they go come early enough.

Pekerman is coach, a very defensive orientated and tactically inept manager. I do worry if they need a tactical substitution he might make a balls of it, like he did in 2006 when Argentina had Germany on the ropes, but let them back in the game and ended getting knocked out. I haven’t forgiven him for that (I am an Argentina fan) but lets see!