There is no injustice that erases what Colombia has done against Brazil! Bitterness is inevitable, yes. It hurts not to see on the scoreboard the result of a moving sacrifice, an impeccable match, an enormous effort. But nothing erases the PARTIDAZO that Rueda’s team played in Rio de Janeiro. Nothing at all.
A play outside the regulation, full of controversy, sentenced the fall 2-1 in overtime and everything ended up leaving frustration in the national team, which played a great game. That’s what matters. The rest escapes the analysis, the evaluations. You have to wait and see what position he ends up in and who will be the rival, but tonight’s has no blemish, it has no fissure, it is an unobjectionable presentation.
Brazil was a great threat but very soon the figure of Cuadrado emerged to bring, more than calm, joy: a beautiful center served Diaz and better was the pirouette of the guajiro to throw himself around and define, powerful and up: the goal cutest Cup!
And the exhausted Cuadrado caused the yellow for Alex Sandro at 13 minutes that conditioned him, and he still had rope to go to the band to disarm Neymar, and he was the undisputed, the usual, the new leader of Colombia, the axis of the first team that managed to score against the fearsome Brazil in this Cup.
It had to be the best start of the entire Rueda era. But the one in front was still a threat: Neymar escaped from the rather timid brand of Borré; It was Zapata’s turn to recover the ball in his area to deactivate another attack; Gabriel Jesus could not with the firm brand of Tesillo and the sacrifice was the hallmark, the most important feature of this combative national team in a simply unobjectionable first half.
Not a minor detail: the first half ended without Brazil, the beast, having a single goal option. Colombia either, it is true, but the one that had put it on the scoreboard.
Tite took a wild card from Rueda in the complement with a Firmino that, as expected, was a headache because he set the marks and opened a space for Neymar, whose first shot, in any case, made him wait until he was 56 minutes. Something very good was being done to neutralize such a gang.
Borré and Zapata left for Cuéllar and Borja because an oxygen tank had to be thrown onto the field for those fighters who held out, without the ball – they always ran after it – a tight victory that was in serious danger at 65, when Neymar He received a luxury from Firmino but he smashed it on the stick … because luck also plays its game.
But then came the controversy: a ball that bounced off the referee Pitana was left to Firmino and the shot went to Ospina, who was left waiting for the ball to land that was demanded. Valid goal yes, but what controversy!
And to top it off, more than ten minutes of addition were played and an error came, as a result of exhaustion and anger, an inattention by Mina on Casemiro that allowed him to score the agonizing 2-1.
In the end, Colombia could not enter the game anymore, everything was stung, the frictions and fights came, the yellow ones (Square does not play in the quarters!) And it was a defeat, which classifies the same as the tricolor to the quarters, it is True, but it leaves the disappointment of having been able to knock down Golliat from the Cup and that is the bitterness of the Colombians. In any case, calm guys, who left their skin, who competed with height and courage, who no matter what else, played a great game!