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Halftime: Colombia 1-0 Ghana
This game needed an early goal, and it got it. Ghana have felt compelled to attack a bit, and they’re showing that such efforts might not be futile.
45 min +6 Oh my goodness. It’s Suarez again, simply launched himself into Sibo. If Turpin doesn’t give a card here, I’m flying to Kansas City and offering to replace him. Hey, I have seven years of experience now.
45 min +5 Handbags. We have handbags. Suarez gives Opoku the business right in front of the spot where some Ghanaian subs are warming up. The foul is called, but Suarez has to extricate himself from the situation.
45 min +4 Lucumí, the Bologna defender, does well to shepherd the ball out of play and deny Ayew. Colombia reclaim the ball.
45 min +1 BRILLIANT SAVE by Ati-Zigi in the Ghanaian goal. Muñoz floated a ball across the box, and his fellow fullback Mojica rose to knock it goalward with the side of his head. Well-struck shot, very well saved.
We have a Ghanaian injury on the play, so we’ll have additional stoppage time. Turpin, unlike a referee from a few games ago, takes the dropped ball properly instead of just nonchalantly dumping it at the feet of a player who’s surrounded by opponents.
Hey, I’m right. Six minutes of stoppage time.
45 min I’ll guess six minutes of stoppage time because I think it should be five. We had a goal and two injury subs.
44 min Semenyo shoots from distance. Passing it back to Mensah on the left may have been a better option.
43 min Ghana’s defenders pass the ball around while the forwards stand like pillars farther up the field.
42 min Lerma puts the ball in the air at the top of the box, and Suarez heads it straight at the goal line … unfortunately, several yards wide of the actual goal.
41 min Colombia have it back, and they’re willing to be patient after having to play defense for a bit. Everybody pad your passing stats!
Here’s the email I mentioned:
Kári Tulinius: “I don’t expect fun from a team managed by Carlos Queiroz, but I do expect them to keep their shape deny their opponents space. Ghana have looked ragged and open from the off. If Colombia press their advantage, the match could be put to bed soon. They probably should, because the Black Stars can’t be this bad all game.”
Indeed – this email came in five minutes ago, and Ghana have had the better of things in that stretch aside from the one Colombia counterattack.
38 min Ghana still possessing, more than they have not just tonight but in many of their games.
But Colombia take it back, and Diaz makes surging run down the left. He centers, the ball is chipped back in his direction, but his half-volley is off target.
36 min Ghana are enjoying a spell of supremacy now. Semenyo shoots, and it’s deflected high into the soupy sky for a corner kick.
35 min Keeper holds it … holds it … holds it …
Colombia just not interested in pressing. I have an email that suggests they might want to reconsider.
34 min Experienced referee Clement Turpin has a few words with people before this kick can be taken. He then positions himself right next to a clump of players like someone trying to win a staring contest.
33 min Promising from Ghana now, with a couple of good switches from side to side. Williams forces Mojica to concede a corner.
32 min Ghana have the ball now, and Colombia seem content to take a break.
31 min That said, Colombia only have six touches in the opponent’s box. Ghana have 0.
30 min I think people may be sleeping on this Colombian side. Maybe they fell asleep during the 0-0 draw with Portugal. But they’re a menace moving forward.
29 min Ghana pass around in their own half, and Suarez isn’t far away from nicking the ball from keeper Ati-Zigi in his own 6-yard box.
27 min We have resumed.
Why don’t they just stop the clock for the hydration breaks and then restart? If a game is interrupted for three hours by lightning, we don’t say someone scored in the 232nd minute.
24 min It’s a foul – no, wait, the referee was signaling for the hydration break when the throw-in was taken quickly. Drink!
23 min Ghana have the ball for a chance, but a through pass is brilliantly intercepted.
21 min As you were. Colombia possessing, though the pace is less frenetic – never mind, they go quickly to the overlapping Mojica on the left.
Farhan (called “F” in previous post): “I don’t expect the Colombia-Ghana game to be a classic — no thanks to Carlos Queiroz. I suspect a lot of people will remember the Kelce-Swift wedding for having taken place around the time the Argentina-Cabo Verde (especially the latter) game was played out and not the other way around.”
Who gets married during the World Cup? I’m at least 50% Swiftie, but really?
18 min Ghana’s best course of action at this point might be to hope Colombia players all cramp in the second half.
Carles Puyol, whose appearance I likened to Weird Al Yankovic in an earlier game, is on hand here as well.
17 min So Colombia have succeeded where England failed, getting through this stout Ghana defense. And they’re still attacking.
Goal! Colombia 1-0 Ghana (J. Arias 14)
Our dreary succession of fouls is interrupted by an emphatic finish after excellent work by the substitute Suárez on the right. His cross sails just over a teammate who is marked and lands at the feed of Arias, who is not. He simply knocks the ball back the other way, wrong-footing the keeper.
13 min SUB for Ghana as a distraught Senaya cannot continue. Seidu makes his first appearance of the World Cup in relief.
12 min Jhon Arias runs through Iñaki Williams about 20 minutes after the ball was gone. THAT is a foul. Yellow card, in fact.
11 min Colombia win a corner and take it quickly and short. If they were expecting to surprise Ghana, they did not.
And Senaya goes off limping. That’s two players injured while committing fouls that weren’t called.
9 min Should that be a penalty as Senaya clotheslines Diaz? In most of the world, yes. But fouls just don’t seem to be fouls any more.
8 min SUB for Colombia as Córdoba can’t continue. He’s replaced by Luis “Not That One” Suarez, who scores goals for fun in Portugal.
Is this the shirt-pullingest tournament ever? I can’t remember seeing so many torn shirts.
6 min Córdoba is in some distress. After some uncomfortable moments standing, he lies down on the field. It appears he injured himself while ripping Opoku’s shirt.
5 min Ghana seem content to yield possession here. We’ll see if Colombia fare better than England did in breaking it down.
Vlado writes: “That Cape Verde performance… at one point I literally thought, ‘This can’t be real. I’m dreaming.’”
Imagine a 16th seed taking it to the wire against a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, except 1,000 times more important.
3 min Colombia’s first attacking idea is to ping the ball down the left for Luis Díaz. There are worse ideas.
1 min Chance for Ghana! Colombia aren’t able to clear, and Partey rips a shot from 25 just wide.
Peep! Here we go.
Quick personal note: It was at this stadium that I met a fellow journalist who happened to have family ties to Kansas City. He was a fierce intellect who wasn’t afraid to take a stand. Grant Wahl is missed.
Home advantage …
I was hoping to find an overhead shot to show just how yellow the stands are. Both teams wear yellow, but Colombia have the vast majority of the crowd here, and the anthem was sung like a crowd at a Taylor Swift concert singing along with … OK, I don’t know which song would be a singalong at a Taylor Swift concert. I like Anti-Hero, but I don’t know if that’s a singalong. And I sing Shake It Off after a bad day of reffing.
Congrats to Taylor and Travis, by the way.
First email of the session, from someone just named “F”
“Why recast at all? Have Vozinha play himself! The man’s a rockstar. I wonder who will play Vozinha’s mother, though.”
Oh, that’s a tough one!
How Colombia got here …
In Mexico City, they managed the break down Uzbekistan.
DR Congo put up stubborn resistance, as they did against other teams, but Colombia took their second win.
Then they played a game against Portugal.
How Ghana got here …
First, they scored at the death while playing without Thomas Partey, who was denied a visa into Canada.
Then they managed to stay awake in a plodding game against England.
And I don’t know what to make of their game against Croatia at this point.
That was enough to advance as a third-place team.
Reader questions
As you consider what nuggets of wisdom to throw at me over the next couple of hours, please answer this: When the movie on the Argentina-Cape Verde match is made, whom do you cast?
I’m thinking Idris Elba as Vozinha.
Quick facts
Weather: An extreme heat warning in the Kansas City area has just been lifted, but it’s still 32 degrees Celsius, 89 degrees in American degrees. Also 61% humidity, and if you don’t think that makes a difference, spend back-to-back days in Las Vegas and Miami.
Referee: Clement Turpin (France). The VAR lead is fellow Frenchman Jerome Brisard.
Head-to-head: First meeting between these teams.
Best game ever played at the World Cup: Just ended. Wow.
Argentina have taken the lead for the third time against Cape Verde are straining to close it out, which in terms of sentences I ever expected to write would probably be the same probability as “Beau Dure is drafted by the Boston Celtics.”
Lineups
Colombia: Vargas; Mojica, Lucumí, Sánchez, Muñoz; J. Arias, Lerma, Puerta; Díaz, Córdoba, Rodríguez
Subs: Ospina, Montero, Machado, S. Arias, Mina, Ditta, Ríos, Castaño, Gómez, Portilla, Suárez, Quintero, Campaz, Cucho, Carrascal
Fullbacks Mojica and Muñoz started the first two games and will be back in those spots. Suárez started the first two games, but Córdoba took that spot in the Portugal game.
Ghana: Ati-Zigi; Mensah, Opoku, Luckassen, Senaya; Partey, Sibo, Yirenkyi; Williams, Ayew, Semenyo
Subs: Asare, Anang, Adjetey, Oppong, Mumin, Seidu, Baba, Owusu, Nuamah, Bonsu-Baah, Sulemana
Ati-Zigi came off at halftime of the 1-0 win over Panama, and Asare played in goal the rest of the group stage. Opoku was an injury concern after missing the third game, but he’s back starting alongside his replacement in that game (and Ghana’s goal-scorer in the 2-1 loss) Luckassen. Adjetey, who had started all the group games, makes way. Yirenkyi reclaims a starting spot after missing the final group game, replacing Owusu. Ayew and Semenyo have started every game, but Williams gets the nod after playing only 65 minutes in the tournament so far.
Preamble
The last time the World Cup was held in the United States, Colombia were among the favorites. Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama. Adolfo Valencia. Faustino Asprilla.
And they fell flat. They lost to an unfancied Romanian side. Then their hopes vanished in one of the best games the USA have ever played.
Things were better in 2014 as Colombia blasted their way through the group stage, nudged aside Uruguay in the round of 16, then fell to Brazil in the quarterfinals. James Rodríguez led the way with six goals and is still on the team. The win over Uruguay is Colombia’s lone win in World Cup knockout rounds.
Ghana also have one win in the knockout rounds, and we’ll pause for a moment as US supporters groan at the memory from that 2010 game. (Several US players from that game are doing commentary of some sort this time around.)
So this match brings together two countries that have been on the periphery of the elite but haven’t quite knocked down the door. One of them will take a big step in that direction in a matter of hours.
Hello all, and welcome to …
…
… that’s OK, we’ll wait. The entire planet is watching this game right now:
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look at this match from Graham Ruthven’s daily watch guide:
What to watch for
Colombia have grown into their role as dark horses, topping Group K ahead of Portugal to set up a favourable last-32 tie against Ghana. While the South Americans have scored more than one goal in just one of their three matches so far, they have shown enough to suggest a deep run could be on the cards.
Ghana have exceeded gloomy pre-tournament predictions by making it this far. Carlos Queiroz has managed to instil a doggedness in his team who have shown their defensive resolve in matches against Croatia, England and Panama. Colombia could find them difficult to break down.
Player to watch: Antoine Semenyo, Ghana – If Ghana are to stand a genuine chance of making the last 16, they’ll need Semenyo in top form. The Manchester City attacker has struggled for service, but is capable of magic with the ball at his feet.
#Colombia #Ghana #World #Cup #live #World #Cup
