So we’ll wrap the round of 32 (the first-ever in the World Cup) with two frustrating but occasionally compelling games and one instant classic that one of the Fox channels should just show on repeat for the rest of the month.
As many games as we’ve had (let’s see: six games per group, 12 groups, that’s 72, then 16 games in the round of 32, so a total of 88), it feels like the round of 16 has come up fast, doesn’t it?
Keep an eye on tomorrow’s schedule. The England-Mexico game is due to remain on schedule, but there has been an awful lot of talk about moving it to a cooler part of the day. No matter what time they play it, conditions are going to be brutal. I’ll also be very surprised if England advance, but stranger things have happened, as we saw today.
Until then, maybe take a nap or something. Or walk around in the heat and pretend you’re playing 90-120 minutes in it. See you all then.
Updated
One more from Oli Pritchard: “Lazy foreign reporting often portrays Colombia as a flair team who are good going forward. Look at the stats though: one goal conceded in four matches.”
Sound analysis. There are no El Pibes on this team. There are 11 guys plus subs who react like disturbed hornets when the other team dare to possess the ball.
I’ll give some stats from Fotmob:
Shots: 20-8 Colombia
Shots on target: 8-0 Colombia, which is incorrect. Ghana did put at least one on goal. But the statkeepers wouldn’t give Matt Freese a save on the olimpico he faced, so …
xG: 2.18-0.26. That’s nonsensical. Sure, by sheer volume, it adds up, but some of those shots are not 0.31 or 0.26 or whatever. Colombia had one shot that would be a goal more often than not, and it was a goal.
Touches in opposition box: 19-8. Haven’t seen this much perimeter shooting since the NBA Finals. Haven’t seen this much perimeter shooting in soccer since the NPSL of the 80s and 90s gave two points for most goals and three points for shots outside the arc.
Accurate passes: 532 (91%)-313 (83%). A bit misleading because a lot of the passes that missed were just sloppy.
Corners: 3-2
Fouls: 14-10 officially. Unofficially, 39-33. I exaggerate but only slightly.
Full time: Colombia 1-0 Ghana
Fourteen teams in the round of 16 are happy that they do not have to face this Colombia side. Are they a great team? No, definitely not. They’re indisciplined. Their attack is chaotic. But all 11 players defend aggressively. If they score first against Switzerland, I’d recommend turning off the TV and going to the pool.
90 min +8 Suarez with a nice judo toss to reclaim the ball. Can’t be much left.
90 min +7 Free kick to Colombia, and all the efforts to prevent time-wasting are failing.
90 min +6 I’ll guess two more minutes for the injury.
Ati-Zigi again with a good save on a shot that wasn’t hit far from him but with remarkable pace. And another!
90 min +5 Just a terrible giveaway from Ghana. Youth soccer teams would be frustrated with that one. Colombia sportingly give it back just to make things interesting, but they steal it back again.
90 min +4 Suarez with a header 6 yards out, but Ati-Zigi’s fists are about 6 inches away in anticipation, and the ball bounds away.
Colombia maintain possession, though.
90 min +4 Did you know the Laws of the Game include sanctions for impeding an opponent. Yeah. Ever seen it called?
90 min +3 Oli Pritchard writes: “Richard Rios is not only a fine player, but a fine man according to most Colombianas. Plenty of wolf whistles for him here in Bogotá.”
90 min +1 There’s nothing horribly malicious in any of these one-on-one encounters. Just sloppy grappling and the occasional controlled collision.
CHANCE for Colombia on a cross from Quintero. Rios tries to leap and get his head on the other side of Mensah, but being unable to phase through solid matter, it doesn’t happen, and we get physios on the field to attend to both players.
Updated
Stoppage time guess: Six minutes. And I’m right again!
90 min Campaz is coming in for Diaz, who gets a lecture from the ref as he heads off but frankly is going pretty fast for a guy who put countless miles on his legs in this game.
89 min Look, not every game can be Argentina-Cape Verde. Thank you for sticking around through this one, even though Ghana aren’t really showing much of a chance of extending this one.
87 min Add “pointless” to our list of foul categories. Semanyo just tossed Puerta to the ground. The Colombian midfielder implausibly holds his mouth as if he had been punched in the jaw, which is nearly on a Rivaldo level of acting.
87 min Diaz with a … shot? Cross? Cleared. Ghana reclaim the ball, and Diaz fouls Nuamah.
86 min Ghana press forward – they’re running out of time. And now they turn it over and watch helplessly as Colombia pass it around. Everyone gets a touch, including goalkeeper Vargas.
85 min Suárez knocks down Luckassen, who adds some theatrics but was certainly fouled.
84 min SCREAMER from Quintero from distance, just wide of the post. I’d love to see the speed stat on that one. I’d guess over 100 km/h.
83 min Ghana get a touch in the opposing box! But just one or two. They keep it, and Fatawu tries a diagonal cross that swerves like a Roberto Carlos free kick and bounces straight into Vargas’ hands. Haven’t seen much of the Colombian keeper in this game.
82 min Replay on the Sanchez header: Ati-Zigi was actually scrambling with both feet behind his own line but alertly swatted the ball down and came back out in the playable area to collect it.
80 min Diaz dribbles down the left with the intensity of someone trying to run through a wall. His shot is blocked out for a corner. From the corner, Sanchez gets a head to it and it’s a terrific save by Ati-Zigi.
Reminder: Ati-Zigi played the first half of Ghana’s opener but went out injured and hasn’t played since then.
79 min Ghana rolling the dice here: Nuamah and Adu (Prince, not Freddy) are in for Ayew and Yirenkyi.
78 min Yellow card to Rios for barging into a player to stop a counterattack.
77 min Colombia’s defense has been resolute. Ghana just can’t get into the opposing box.
76 min Belated yellow to Seidu for trying to come through the back of a Colombian player. Free kick from 30 yards. Quintero’s kick probably would’ve gone about 50 yards if not for the stands behind the goal.
75 min Your expected goals (xG) stat for this half so far: Colombia not so much, Ghana a bit less.
74 min Sub for Colombia – goalscorer Jhon Arias is out. Juan Quintero is in.
Hydration mail
Ray Hyland: “Diaz offside? That must be 5 times already this tournament?”
I’m not sure I know where to find that stat. It exists somewhere.
Peter Oh: “Cape Verde’s Vozinha made headlines earlier but the world is also seeing some Zigi stardust!”
Good tournament for African goalkeepers, isn’t it?
We have reckless, careless, needless and …
Scott Martin: “There is also a toothless foul, which is (the other) Luis Suarez fouling without biting someone.”
69 min What’s the sound of tens of thousands of Colombian fans whistling? Turn on your country’s rights-holding broadcaster to find out. Not happy with Ghana haveing the ball for so long.
Semenyo lines up a shot, but it’s blocked. The rebound is shot wide, which will come as a surprise to the statkeeper I just checked that claims Ghana have had no shots in this half.
Hydrate!
67 min One thing I learned quickly as a ref – sorting out who should get a throw-in is sometimes extremely difficult. You can’t be everywhere, and when players are contesting for the ball, you might be screened as the ball takes its last carom on its way out.
Ghana possess despite some insistent Colombian pressure.
66 min Tempers are rising, and I believe Fatawu just got yellow for dissent after what was indeed a missed call as the ball went out of play off Colombia but Colombia got the throw-in.
65 min It’s not pretty, but it’s pretty compelling as Colombia conducts a rondo drill around Ghanaian players. Rondos were all the rage in US youth soccer for a while.
63 min Colombia hold the ball on the right. Semenyo presses. Back to the keeper. Semenyo presses. Over to the left. Semenyo presses. Soccer players at this level have remarkable engines, don’t they?
62 min The game is turning into a bit of a grappling contest.
Ghana subs: Sibo and Williams out. Owusu and Leicester City’s Fatawu in.
60 min Colombia play long but now long enough, and Ghana win it back. Rios fouls … the breakdown of fouls is careless (ordinary foul), reckless (yellow) and with excessive force or endangering the safety of an opponent (red), but there’s also needless – ordinary foul that just gives the opponent easy possession.
59 min CHANCE for Ghana as Williams works his way down the right and centers it, forcing some close-range defending.
Sibo is cramped or otherwise injured, and subs will be made.
58 min CHANCE for Colombia as the Ghanaian defenders are nowhere to be found while Colombia gleefully go on the fast break. Diaz launches a blistering shot, but Ati-Zigi is equal to it.
57 min NO GOAL! Probably. Confirmed. It’s a wonderful combination of quick medium-range passes, but Diaz was a full body width offside before knocking it into the goal.
Updated
54 min A through ball to Suárez tests Luckassen, who has to concede a corner. It’s played to the corner of the box, and a shot whistled toward goal but is punched clear by Ati-Zigi.
Remember when MLS had a “catch/punch” stat?
53 min Ghana try to break down a phalanx of Colombian defenders. Semenyo gets free on the left and crosses, but his teammates didn’t heed the call to race onto the ball.
51 min Yirenkyi gets a yellow card for a shirt pull. That’s illegal again?
50 min Suárez does well to keep a ball in play but is unable to fight through the physical play of the Ghanaian defense.
49 min A Colombian clearance under pressure is deflected high in the air, but Vargas has no trouble collecting it.
48 min Rios announces his presence with a diagonal shot from the upper corner of the box to a point maybe halfway between the far post and the 6-yard box.
47 min Ghana pressing forward to start the second half, and they are not backing down from some physical challenges.
Isn’t it funny how sports people say “physical” as a euphemism for “foul”?
46 min Halftime sub for Colombia: Richard Rios replaces James Rodriguez, who didn’t have the most impactful first half but is still a surprising sight on the bench.
Halftime mailbag
Scott Bassett: “Torn between these abstract, Jackson Pollock mescaline-addled crayon-freakout Ghana shirts and the Mexican Aztec calendar green, all spiraling order from a disordered universe number. Both beautiful. Must I choose a favorite?”
I think if Ghana play Mexico, it will usher in a psychedelic Renaissance.
Oli Pritchard: “El Pibe Valderrama just popping up on the adverts here in Bogotá. Not quite the same since he backed the right-winger in the recent elections.”
Never meet your heroes.
Peter Oh: “Did the Ghanaian players who remember the 2010 World Cup break out in a cold sweat when a Luis Suárez entered the game?”
That Suárez had a hat trick in his most recent game, a 6-4 decision against the Philadelphia Union. I’d imagine Union manager Bradley Carnell chewed out the team afterwards. (He was then removed from his position.)
Justin Kavanagh, in the same vein: “It’s hardly a surprise that the Colombia attack has had more bite since the introduction of a sub with the name of Luis Suárez.”
Peter again, and I really had to think about this one: “It’s probably Against All Odds for the Colombia #3 central defender to score the match winner, but if he does, Take a Lucumi Now.”
Picture Phil yelling out the chorus and you’ll get it.
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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?
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
