In the last game of the first round of the World Cup, Colombia imposed its greatest technical quality and defeated newcomers Uzbekistan 3-1 on Wednesday night (17) at the Azteca stadium, in Mexico City, in Group K.
With the result, Colombia takes the isolated lead of the group, with 3 points, leaving the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Portugal in sequence with 1 point, after the draw between them, also on Wednesday. In the lantern is Uzbekistan, zero.
The first minutes showed how the match would go, with Uzbekistan well positioned on the field, with excellent marking by zone, in the Italian style, by coach Fabio Cannavaro.
The Asian team even tried to surprise, forcing plays with Fayzullaev and captain Shomurodov, but little by little the Colombians found the way to play, exchanging many passes, on both sides of the pitch, until they found space to finish.
The first shot on goal, by the way, came from Colombia, at 16 minutes, in the first failure of the Uzbek defense. Puerta took the ball from his rival and passed it to Arias to shoot from the edge of the area, on the right, but the ball hit the net from the outside.
At 29 minutes, Shomurodov had a good chance when he received a pass from the right. He cut Sánchez and invaded the area, but Lucumí reached the cover and managed to take the ball away before finishing.
Soon after, in the 31st minute, Colombian Arias, who defends Palmeiras, found a great pass for Luis Díaz inside the area. He shot first time, crossed, taking it from goalkeeper Yusupov, but the ball hit the left post. On the rebound, the goalkeeper himself caught it.
With Colombian pressure increasing, the Uzbek players focused on defense, but the greater technical quality of the South Americans prevailed.
At 39 minutes, in a good attacking plan, Luis Díaz rolled into the middle, Suárez blocked the lights, and James Rodríguez came in to hit, but was stopped by the defenders.
With the ball remaining, Luis Díaz again picked up the ball in the middle and made a great shot inside the area. Full-back Muñoz ran in and put the first ball into the goal, with the tip of his boot, over the rival goalkeeper, opening the score.
In the second half, the Colombian defense gave space and the Uzbek attack tied the match after 15 minutes, the team’s first goal in the World Cup.
Khamdamov prevented the ball from passing along the baseline on the left and crossed into the area. Shomurodov arrived from the front and shot first time. Vargas partially saved, and the ball was left for Fayzullaev to head free into the empty goal.
But there wasn’t even time for the Asians to celebrate properly because Colombia took the lead again four minutes later.
Puerta stole the ball in the center circle and passed it to Luis Suárez, who ran with the ball and passed it to Luis Díaz in the area, on the left. The attacker dominated and shot across. Goalkeeper Yusupov even touched the ball, but it escaped and went into the left corner.
Colombia, then, once again dominated the actions, with quick moves from their attackers, always arriving with danger. Midfielder Lerma kicked the ball out of the net in the 40th minute and midfielder Campaz risked a shot from outside the area afterwards, but the ball went too high.
At 45 minutes, Mozgovoy had a good chance to tie the game. He received it inside the area and shot a cross into Vargas’ left corner, but the ball went too high and went out.
The Asian team increased the pressure and, in the 46th minute, missed another opportunity. Sayfiev crossed from the baseline, Khamdamov headed the ball backwards and, when Shomurodov was about to finish, at the second post, Arias arrived first and took the ball away.
But it was Colombia who scored again, in stoppage time, to close the score at 3-1. Cucho Hernández fought for the ball on the right flank with defender Urozov, fell, got up and managed to cross to Campaz’s head.
Uzbekistan even hit Vargas’ crossbar in the next play, with a shot from outside the area by Karimov, but it was too late.
Colombia returns to the field next Tuesday (23) to face the Democratic Republic of Congo, at 11pm (Brasília time). Uzbekistan, in turn, faces Portugal on the same day, but at 2 pm.
