The illusion of returning to the Olympic Games in men's soccer lasted 180 minutes. Colombia was eliminated this Friday, after losing 2-0 against Brazil in Caracas, and no longer has any arithmetic option of qualifying for the final phase of the Pre-Olympic Championship in Venezuela.
Only a few sparks were shown by Héctor Cárdenas' team, which added a new and painful failure with a team that, based on names, seemed to promise something better, but that at no point in the championship showed solidity, neither in defense nor in attack.
The championship regulations sentenced Colombia to be eliminated. Although it can reach six points and hypothetically equal Brazil, the direct confrontation leaves the National Team without any option to advance.
Colombia, without goal, without football and without order
Colombia suffered when they attacked it, which was not much, but enough to hit at the right moments. At 25 minutes, goalkeeper Sebastián Guerra scored a rebound after a shot by John Kennedy and Endrick, the new figure of Real Madrid, took advantage to score the 1-0.
Cárdenas' team was harmless in the first half. Daniel Ruiz was not precise, Óscar Cortés was neither similar to that of the U-20 National Team nor to that of Millonarios, Carlos Gómez wanted to solve it alone and Carlos Cortés looked clumsy.
Already in the second half, Ruiz left injured and his replacement, Brahian Palacios, gave some joy to the attack. Now, it is not Cárdenas's fault that, when Colombia had the options, he missed goals scored, as happened with Brayan Ceballos and with Gómez himself.
Instead, Brazil, retreating and playing on the counterattack, did hit when it had to: John Kennedy, this time, did not fail after a break from Gabriel Pec and scored 2-0, at 38 minutes into the second stage.
Cárdenas moved the team without success and now, the two games that the team has left in the Pre-Olympic, on January 29 against Venezuela and February 2 against Bolivia, will be only to comply with the schedule. Thus ends one of the biggest failures in Colombian football in recent times.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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