the dream of the Colombia selection ended this Saturday in San José de Costa Rica, where the team led by Carlos Paniagua did not find the formula, as none of its rivals have done in the last 11 games, to score a goal against Brazil, which got into the semifinal of the U-20 Women’s World Cup.
Carlos Paniagua, the Colombian coach, kept almost the same team and the same schedule as in the previous games, with the exception of the expulsion of Yirleidys Quejada. Yunaira López, his natural substitute, took that position.
However, the team’s attitude was different, and what Brazil did on the field had a lot to do with that, pressing up, drowning out their rival’s exit and putting Colombia in their field.
Thus, the team was forced to hold on and play on the counterattack, trying to take advantage of the speed of Gisela Robledo and Linda Caicedo, who they took care of to prevent her from moving freely.
The goal that put Brazil up, with the help of VAR
Brazil had to wait 25 minutes to find an advantage that it deserved from the beginning of the game, when it made goalkeeper Natalia Giraldo figure. And she found it with the help of the VAR, which detected that there was an infraction by Ángela Barón to the 10 of Brazil, Analuyza. Fullback Thaciane charged hard and low and Giraldo guessed the direction, but she couldn’t control the power.
After the goal, Colombia was encouraged to advance lines and, at least, they were already playing much closer to the Brazilian goal, although without generating danger, and with that panorama the first stage was over.
With the loss by one goal, Paniagua decided to change everything: he disarmed the line of 3 in the middle, took out his central midfielder, Liced Serna, and sent Ingrid Guerra to the field, whom he had already thought of before the match as a possible starter in instead of Gabriela Rodríguez.
The change, initially, served Colombia, which continued with the momentum of the first stage and gained confidence to attack, although without generating scoring options.
The wear was increasing, Paniagua did not touch the team anymore and the game became open, back and forth, but with a more effective Brazil than Colombia. There were even two Brazilian goals that did not go up on the scoreboard, one due to offside and the other due to a lack of Thaciane, the scorer, who pushed Kelly Caicedo.
Colombia’s reaction from the bench was somewhat late
Finally, the Colombian coach decided to take a risk, perhaps a little late: he took out the left back, Yunaira López, and put in Mariana Muñoz, the scorer of the winning goal against Germany, when there were five more minutes left than the judge wanted to replace, the Welsh Cheryl Foster.
The desire was not enough. Brazil, a better trained and more experienced team, remained in the classification and will seek an unprecedented title. Colombia left everything, but they lacked a goal.
SPORTS
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