Ahhhh, some things will never change! A year will always be 12 months, we will all die one day and Colombia will always disappoint! Coming into this Copa America I didn't expect much from the Colombians to be honest, but after the first round...I started to believe. Maybe, just maybe, this was going to be the return of top class Colombian football. After all, the team has quite a bit of talent and seemed to have some momentum going into Saturday's Quarter Final matchup with Peru. Peru didn't exactly seem like the toughest of opponents either...but that's why they play the matches. Twenty minutes into the game it was obvious that this was going to be one of those tough matches where goals were going to be hard to come by. At halftime with the score tied at nil the match was playing out exactly in that manner, and the early part of the second half wasn't much different. In the 70th minute an opportunity to break the deadlock arrived when Colombia was awarded a penalty. It was clear this was going to be the type of game that 1 goal would be enough to win, so this was huge! Radamel Falcao stepped up to the spot and promptly sent the kick wide of the goal. Falcao! Colombia's young star with seemingly infinite talent had just missed a penalty with 20 minutes left. At that point I knew they were doomed. Regulation time ended with the score 0-0 as expected and the game proceeded to extra time. This is where Colombia fell apart completely. In the first period of extra time, Peru scored after a free kick was floated into the box causing chaos in the Colombian defence. The Colombian keeper came out to intercept the cross only to fall over Colombian captain, Yepes. The fall caused him to lose the little grasp he had on the ball leaving the goal open. The ball fell to Carlos Lobaton of Peru and he wasted no time blasting a shot into the open net for a Peru goal. Trailing 1-0 into the second period of extra time, Colombia began pushing everything forward with the hopes of finding an equalizer. The urgency was definitely called for but Colombia became erratic. Another goalkeeping error led to Peru sealing the victory. A poor clearance by the keeper fell to a Peruvian player instantly putting them in a 2 on 2 situation. The 2 Colombian defenders stood little chance and Peru scored a very easy goal. Colombia paid for their erratic play and Peru capitalized sealing the victory and earning a spot in the semi-final. Colombia are eliminated, and after the missed penalty and the 2 errors defensively...they have no one to blame but themselves. The talent is there for Colombia to make a serious run at qualifying for the 2014 World Cup however, and hopefully they cease their opportunities better over the next few years.
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| Radamel Falcao |
In the other Quarter Final, Uruguay took on rivals and tournament hosts Argentina. Unlike the previous game, this game was filled with excitement from the start. The atmosphere seemed to be perfect, and the play on the field matched it. The hosts hadn't had a great opening round, but in a knockout match against one of their biggest rivals they were sure to play at their highest level. The crowd was silenced early though, when Uruguay opened the scoring through Diego Perez. A shot deflected into his path just infront of the goal, and with the keeper already beaten it didn't take much of a shot to convert for Perez. With Argentina down 1-0 you would've expected Uruguay to keep the pressure on but the momentum actually switched to the other side. Argentina pressured until they broke the Uruguay defence. Lionel Messi put together an impressive piece of play on the right side and sent a good cross into the box. Gonzalo Higuain beat the offside trap and got to the cross with his head in perfect position to beat Muslera, the Uruguayan keeper. The score was tied at 1 a piece and the game went into halftime.
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| Diego Perez |
Uruguay lost Diego Perez to a second yellow card in the 38th minute and that meant trouble for them. Perez was not only their goal scorer on the day, but he's also a very capable defensive midfielder that would prove valuable in a game of this intensity. They would enter the second half down a man and versus Argentina on any occasion that could be critical. Versus Argentina in Argentina in a knockout round it would usually be too much for most teams to overcome. The second half was filled with the same attacking play that we saw in the first half. Uruguay did well to stay in the game and keep it competitive and Argentina started picking up caution after caution. The first yellow card went to Javier Mascherano in the 50th minute, then as the second round went on Gabriel Milito and Nicolas Burdisso joined him in the referee's book. The winning goal proved to be elusive for both teams however. With extra time looming, the game tied and up by a man, Argentina replaced Aguero with Carlos Tevez. Only 3 minutes later though, Javier Mascherano picked up his second yellow and joined Diego Perez as the ejected players in the game. The game would enter extra time tied at 1 a piece.
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| Carlos Tevez |
Just as the earlier game, we had a game for a spot in the semi final go into extra time. Argentina pushed forward and started creating more chances in the extra periods. Messi was instrumental, and had a chance or two stay out of the goal in situations that could have easily gone his way. A Tevez free kick deflected off the wall and almost set a date with Peru for the Argentinians. Muslera had already dove to the spot he expected the kick to go, only for the ball to deflect to the direction he had dove from. His leg managed to save the shot and a rebound at point blank range was pushed away by Muslera, all in a split second. The game ended deadlocked at 1 goal a piece and we went on to a penalty shootout. Lionel Messi stepped up and converted the first spot kick with ease. Diego Forlan was first for Uruguay and matched Messi. Nicolas Burdisso scored his penalty followed by Luis Suarez for Uruguay. With the shootout tied at 2, neither team had come close to missing when Carlos Tevez stepped up. He shot low and to Muslera's right but the shot was saved. Uruguay had gotten the break they needed. Scotti converted Uruguay's 3rd kick to give them the lead in the shootout. Pastore was next for Argentina, knowing that a miss here would give Uruguay a foot into the semi-final. Pastore went low and to the keeper's right like Tevez had done before him, and Muslera guessed right again. The shot was blocked by Muslera's hand only to deflect into the net. Muslera pounded his fist in disappointment, knowing that a save would have meant Uruguay only needed 1 more conversion. Walter Gargano stepped up and calmly converted for Uruguay to make the shootout score 4-3 in favour of Uruguay. Argentina sent Higuain to take their final kick of the shootout, hoping that he could extend it. He smashed the shot off the bottom of the crossbar, it bounced off the ground and into the net. Uruguay sent Caceres last to win it all for his country. He stepped to the spot and converted the shot with ease. Uruguay won the shootout 5-4 and eliminated their rivals on their home soil. The win means that Uruguay will face Peru in the Copa America semi-finals later this week.
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| Lotta Schelin |
In an update of the Women's World Cup. Sweden managed to beat France in the 3rd place playoff by the score of 2-1. At halftime Sweden led by 1-0 from a Lotta Schelin goal. After the half the French put the pressure on and managed to equalize with a nice shot from just outside the 18 yard box. The shot was kept low and just inside the post to the keeper's right. With 34 minutes left Sweden went on the attack and managed to win the game with a goal in the 82nd minute by Marie Hammarstrom. The goal was a thing of beauty and a nominee for goal of the tournament in an upcoming blog of mine. Both Sweden and France qualify for the Women's football tournament at next year's Olympics. Stay tuned for my next blog for a review of the Women's World Cup final between USA and Japan.
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| Marie Hammarstrom |
