Colombia fell out of the world cup on penalties against the Swiss
Colombia lost on penalties after a gritty match in Vancouver this afternoon to end their world cup run at the last 16 stage again. The game wasn’t one for the purists, with no goals in 120 minutes and ending up on penalties. There, Colombia missed two of their five to crash out of the tournament. It was a relatively fair result, with los cafeteros devoid of ideas for much of the game and lacking a cutting edge.
Colombia’s talismanic playmaker James Rodríguez was named in the starting 11, despite looking slower and slower as the tournament goes on. Apart from that, Colombia had an unchanged side, with free scoring fullback Muñoz preferred to veteran Arias in the backline.
The first half was ponderous and played largely at walking pace, with chances few and far between for both teams. With a minute to go to the first hydration break, Colombia finally had a good chance, Puerta letting loose from range to force a good save from Kobel.
Then it was Vargas’ turn to keep Colombia in it, saving well from Rieder on the half hour and again from Ndoye just a couple of minutes later. The Swiss were growing into the game as time ticked by, but that opened up space for Colombia to exploit. James duly threaded a beauty through for Muñoz on yet another maurading run, but he wasn’t quite quick enough.
By the halftime whistle, both teams headed into the break looking for inspiration on how to open up this deadlocked game. Switzerland came out with more verve and vim and immediately started asking questions of the Colombians for the only time this tournament apart from patches of the game against Portugal.
Just after the hour mark, Sánchez snatched at a chance at the top of the D following a promising break, scuffing it well wide. He continues to disappoint in yellow, nowhere near his sparkling form for Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon. James came off on 65 minutes for Quintero, giving Colombia a fresh injection of energy for the final quarter of the match.
On 74 minutes the Swiss went close, a well played freekick by Rieder almost finding the head of Embolo and requiring Vargas to be at full stretch to punch clear and take the man out in the process. From there the game descended into scrappiness for another ten minutes or so, with Colombia threatening on the break as the Swiss pushed for a winner, going close on 90mins with Ndoye firing across goal from a tight angle.
Extra time loomed and the Swiss started mucking about and behaving poorly, earning a yellow for Davinson Sánchez after one dive. Colombia were looking bright, wanting to avoid pens and Lucemí went close from a corner, his corner too close to Kobel. After that, at 100 minutes, they peppered long rangers at the Swiss goal, first Rios and then Campaz taking potshots.
Colombia were clearly up for the game now and looking to avoid penalties, some in the squad remembering their exit at this stage against an inspired England team in 2018. Quintero flashed a shot over from just outside the box in the second half of extra time, with Xhaka then doing likewise for the Swiss a minute later.
Then it was Campaz who had the biggest chance of the night, a lucky deflection finding him one on one with the keeper on 116 minutes. He snatched at it though, blazing over from just yards out. That was the last big chance of the night, with penalties casting a long shadow over both teams as time ran down.
Then it was the cruel finale of penalties, and it was not destined for Colombia. Camilo Vargas got a glove to Xhaka’s first penalty, but the Swiss had hit it with enough force that it ended up in the net anyway. In truth, the Colombian penalties were poor in the main, Campaz lucky to squeeze it under Kobel, Sánchez smacking it against the bar and Cucho Hernández too close to the keeper. The Swiss, meanwhile, were clinical and apart from one over, gave Vargas little chance.
