Unnecesary Colombian suffering

I was quite excited yesterday, first time in a long time: I would be able to leave work early and go to the legendary Azteca Stadium to see Colombia versus Uzbekistan in the World Cup!

After a lengthy and crowded ride in public transport arrived at the immense and sold-out stadium: a vast crowd of Colombians that surely made it a home-match for the South Americans.

I had no expectations of the Uzbekis: I only know their Manchester City player, Abdukodir Khusanov, and their manager, the legendary Fabio Cannavaro. And I was disappointed: perhaps it was the nerve of the World Cup debut, but it was a team that entered the pitch not to win, but rather not to lose. A five-man defense, with Khusanov in the right, in order to stop the quick Luis Diaz.

Khusanov did not have an easy first half: he was soon booked for a foul on Luis Diaz, who was a constant threat, while James was constantly moving to confuse the defense. Colombia had basically all possession and even a Luis Diaz shot on the post, but relieve only came in the 40th minute when a deep high-ball into the area by Luis Diaz was caught with a high leg by the Crystal Palace defender Daniel Muñoz. 1-0 was deserved.

Uzbekistan did not change much their second half despite them being behind. Colombia had possession, but it seemed nerves started hitting the Colombians - at least the fans were calling for a second goal as the Colombians passed the ball around facing the closed Uzbeki defense. 

Then what happened was unnecessary as well as historical (at least for Uzbeksitan). The first real Uzbeki attack and a high ball that appeared to go out landed with an Uzbeki striker who first timed a precise but weak shot straight at the Colombian goalkeeper, Camilo Vargas, at the near post. The ball hit Vargas in a way that it went straight up behind him, and straight to Abbosbek Fayzullaev, who could easily score Uzbekistan's first ever World Cup goal.

1-1 was so against the match!

But soon after Luis Diaz himself made it 2-1 on a shot towards the far Uzbeki post, in a ball that the Uzbeki goalkeeper Utkir Yusopov should probably have saved.

Thus we see that there is indeed some poor goalkeeping in the World Cup.

2-1 was well-deserved, and Colombia should be in control. Both Luis Diaz and James were substituted as Colombia pulled back to defend the lead, and the Uzbekis pushed forward. The end was unnecessarily nerve-wrecking for the Colombians, who had seen the Uzbekis score, and in the dying minutes they were suddenly in control.

But two of the substitutes saved the day: Cucho Hernandez had come on earlier and fought hard winning a ball during a counterattack, and made a perfect pass into the Uzbeki area where Jaminton Campaz (who had come on for James) could easily head the ball into the Uzbeki goal and make it to a deserved 3-1.

Still, - and this was the most admirable part about the Uzbekis -, Uzbekistan had an incredible shot on the  crossbar in the dying seconds (would surely have been the goal of the tournament!), but it was never enough to deny the Colombians, who despite all the suffering, deserved the victory.

Intense and great match, and most of all, happy to cheer on the Colombian team with all other Colombian fans! 

The World Champions have checked in

Defending world champions often struggle to defend their title, but for Argentina tonight this was not the case. A solid 3-0 victory over Algeria, but most notably with an incredible Lionel Messi, who at his tender 38 years appeared to be everywhere on the pitch, and scored all three Argentine goals, equaling Miroslav Klose as the most scoring player in a World Cup.

Argentina also appeared solid in defense although I find it hard to assess how good the Algerians were. They passed the ball well and at times managed to put pressure on Argentina, but never really appeared to threaten the South American goal. At the same time they played slowly, something that only appeared to make the Argentineans comfortable. But it all may be to the credit of solid defense by Argentina.

While Spain grossly disappointed with 0-0 against Cape Verde, France won 3-1 over Senegal on a great second half and two Mbappé goals. Three of the biggest favourites for the title have started at different levels, but one thing is sure; everyone will be watching for Messing to break yet another historic record in his 6th World Cup.

Two great matches today

 Two matches stood out for me today:

- Japan-Netherlands 2-2: Two of the sides we are looking forward to in the World Cup did not disappoint. Netherlands were dominating much of the match, but the Japanese were dangerous in their patience. Even though the Dutch went ahead after steady pressure, it was somewhat clear that the Japanese were never going to let the Europeans win. The Netherlands will likely win the group, but Japan will likely get far.

- Côte d’Ivoire-Ecuador: It was 0-0 for too long in a match that could have had many goals between two different styles of football. The Ecuadorians hit the post twice in the first half with their technical style, but the Ivorians were patient and much better physically. Manchester United’s Amad Diallo gave them a late victory that was painful for the South Americans, but also makes the following matches incredibly exciting, following the German thrashing of Curaçao.

USA in the house

 No matter how it goes USA under manager Mauricio Pochettino will be talked about a lot, and with the 4-1 victory against Paraguay, USA has stamped into the World Cup in style. It was characteristic Pochettino style high pressure and possession that the North Americans used to completely dominate the South American. Damian Bobadillas’s clumsy own goal after 7 minutes set the pace, and then the Monaco striker Folarin Balogun scored two goals before halftime (first time a US player scores twice in a World Cup match). Second half US lowered the pace but continued to dominate. Nevertheless a mistake gave Paraguay their goal, by Mauricio, and a glimmer of hope against the odds, but in the end Giovanni Reyna scored a splendid goal to give the USA a solid victory in their opener.

They play great football and their matches look to be entertaining, but we will only see their real strength against better opposition in the the knock-out stages, as they are in a very easy group where they should win all matches.

First day in Guadalajara

 If Denmark had qualified for the World Cup, they would have played South Corea in Guadalajara yesterday, and let me be blunt: Denmark would have lost bigger than the fighting Czechs, who are also very dangerous on set-pieces.

I was a bit disappointed about the atmosphere which was nowhere as electric as other matches. South Coreans far outnumbered Czechs, and Mexicans far outnumbered everybody in a beautiful Akron stadium that despite it all was not at full capacity…

The first half of the match was somewhat disappointing. South Corea had the ball and the chances, but appeared too elegant to be able to strike against a Czech side that were surely on the defensive, but played with heart. Ten minutes into the second half came the shocker for the Coreans: Ladislav Krejci brought the Czechs on 0-1 on a header, following one of the Czech specialties, namely set-pieces.

The Coreans were not stunned though, and scored a goal based on patience; they passed the ball around, almost making the stadium and Czechs falls asleep, until the explosion came. A pass to Hweong In-beom in the area and he skillfully cheated two defenders and the goalkeeper. 

Corea were the better team, but the Czechs played their chance. They pressed high and was dangerous with long balls, also seeking their dangerous set-pieces, and in fact appeared to have scored on one when the referee gave an apparent free kick to the Coreans. Instead, Oh Hyeon-gyu gave the Coreans the lead on a perfectly timed attack.

The final minutes of the match Czechia pressed and in fact managed to stress the otherwise better team of Corea, and came very close to an equalizer.

But Corea won, just as Mexico had done earlier in the day, 2-0 against South Africa in a sorry to say very poor match, where South Africa were not at any quality level of what you would expect of a World Cup team. So it is basically impossible to say anything of Mexico’s level on the basis of that match, and the real test will come in the next matches.

The World Cup is on. There is no magic; quite on the contrary, and as it has started, I find it hard to be in the slightest excited about it.