Colombia passed the test, did not miss the figures and beat Mexico well: see Catalina Usme's great goal

colombia overcame the test of playing without two of its great attacking references, Linda Caicedo and Leicy Santos, and managed to win a tough match against Mexico in Orlando, a 1-0 that continues to fill the team with confidence ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In the first half, Colombia did not feel the absences of Linda and Leicy. And coach Angelo Marsiglia's approach had a lot to do with that, as he made his team play long and take advantage of the power of Mayra Ramirez.

The Chelsea attacker had three one-on-ones with goalkeeper Stephanny Barreras, who resolved them all in her favor. Mexico, on the other hand, only scared once, in an Olympic goal attempt that hit the post.

Cata received a pass from Manuela Vanegas and ended up turning to get out of the way and find the space to finish. When she had it, she put the ball in the corner, where the goalkeeper never reached. Great goal!

Catalina Usme left injured

After an initial change in the intermission, that of Fabiana Yantén for Vanegas, Marsiglia had to try, the hard way, a completely different attack. Without Linda Caicedo and without Leicy Santos, who were dropped from the squad due to injury, and now without Usme, who was injured after fighting for a divided ball.

With that misfortune, Marsiglia sent Yisela Cuesta onto the field and had her play on the wing. On the other was Manuela Paví, who was already coming off a great performance in the Gold Cup. And in the center, Mayra.

After the changes, Colombia had a hard time reaching the opponent's goal, because the opponent came at them. However, Mexico took 84 minutes to make a shot on goal, which did not have any major difficulties for the experienced Sandra Sepúlveda.

Sandra returned to the starting lineup after almost a year and a half: she had not saved as a first baseman since October 8, 2022, in a friendly against Paraguay at the Deportivo Cali stadium.

In the last minutes, the coach wanted to test the speed of Wendy Bonilla, replacing Marcela Restrepo. And in the last play of the game it seemed to work, but with Mayra as the protagonist: she received a deep pass, took out the goalkeeper and sent her to the back of the goal, but the goal did not go up on the scoreboard because the forward was ahead.

From a statistical point of view, the victory is very important: it is the first victory against Mexico since the 2015 Pan American Games (1-0, also with a goal from Usme). And from a football perspective, Marsiglia seems to find the structure to support the game without figures, which is also valuable.

Jose Orlando Ascencio

Sports Deputy Editor

@josasc

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