Los Cafeteros have started their summer in winning ways.
Monday night saw Colombia play host to Costa Rica in their send-off at the Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium, where they took care of business by beating the Ticos 3-1 as they wrapped up their preparations before heading to Guadalajara to start their World Cup campaign.
It was a night full of celebration. Vibrant music, fireworks, and pyrotechnics made appearances as the capital was ready to welcome its national team for the final time before the real work begins on June 17th. However, as soon as the whistle blew, it was time to flip the switch and see what Nestor Lorenzo’s group had to show.
With that, let’s take a look at some things we saw in the match.
The great: Luis Diaz, Juan Fernando Quintero, Carlos Andres Gomez
Make no mistake about it, this is Diaz’s team. A goal and an assist on the night. Once again, the FC Bayern Munich standout winger showed exactly why he is one of the best and most in-form players in the world. 49 G/A in 51 appearances while playing protagonist for both club and country should tell you everything you need to know. Last night, he was direct. Decisive. Every time he had the ball, there was the sensation that he would pull a rabbit out of a hat and provide that moment os brilliance. Colombia is at its best when Diaz is involved. He’s the one who will be providing much of the spark going forward.
Juan Fernando Quintero was also brilliant in his 15-minute cameo. The River Plate midfielder is one of the last standing of the dying breed of classical, pure number 10s. Quintero provides a different kind of profile than anything Colombia has. Yes, sure, he can be naturally compared to James Rodriguez, but Quintero is much more of a rhythm and tempo dictator. He falls back deeper into the back line to get the ball and starts to knock it about to dictate tempo. La toco y me voy to put it perfectly to slow it down and assert some possession. If the game asks to be more direct, his vision allows him to see these things no other player sees, and he looks to break lines with his passes if it’s on. Anytime Quintero is on the pitch, Colombia looks smoother and with more of a purpose.
Carlos Andres Gomez didn’t look out of place. A somewhat new face to this cycle, the youngster didn’t need any time to adapt to things. Energetic, great work ethic to win the ball back when out of possession. Those are the things that will keep him in this squad going forward. Also played a huge part in Diaz’s goal, where he remained proactive instead of reactive and capitalized on a heavy touch from Costa Rica’s centerback to win the ball back in front of the box. Impressive stuff that will not go overlooked.
The good: Luis Suarez
Came on in the second half and at first looked a little slow. The first couple of touches looked sloppy, giving the ball away cheaply, and didn’t bury a chance on the counter that at least should’ve ended with a shot on target. As things progressed, though, he looked more settled in, offering great link-up play and working hard off the ball. He got his moment in the 81st minute with a fantastic through ball by Rodriguez that placed him in front of goal, and he thumped it in off the bar.
It was a really well-taken goal, and perhaps a sign of what Colombians will hope to see with their striker position that has long been a need since the great Radamel Falcao. These kinds of nights, where Suarez continues to adapt to the system, will be pivotal going into the tournament, as coming off being the top goalscorer in Liga NOS in Portugal, he needs all the confidence he can get to continue his form and be the poacher for this country to take the next step. Just needs to be firing on all cylinders from the start.
The bad: Backline
Davinson Sanchez played very well, and he’s the only one excusable from the ones that started at the back. Many, many times throughout the match, Willer Ditta or Johan Mojica were too passive defensively, and it was just too easy for their number 9 to win the ball from them. That results in losing possession in places where, with better teams, they could punish you. And in the World Cup, that could be the difference between advancing to the next stage and going home. Arias was the most solid of the three and did some good things to build out. Very serviceable right back that brings World Cup experience. The moment at the corner where he lost his head was just a bit of a circus, considering it was a friendly. You’ve got to be more careful in those moments, as with VAR being in play in the tournament, you never know what can happen.
All in all, some things left to be desired with certain aspects of the game, but also some stuff to definitely build off of. Now, Colombia will look to finish their tune-up in their final friendly against Jordan, before kicking off their campaign against Uzbekistan in Mexico City on June 17th.