Colombia U-20 team: acceptable present and promising future

The Colombian Sub-20 National Team He managed to excite in the youth World Cup and arouse some interest; some games, such as the 5-1 victory in the round of 16 against Slovakia, radiated a devastating game; and some players left a promising image that suggests that more than present, what is in this team is a great future. But this Selection left the feeling that it was there to go further. It had how, that’s why the bitter taste.

(It may interest you: The Colombian team lowered its level and left the World Cup: this is how they played one by one)

The conclusion is that DT Héctor Cárdenas had players to think of something else. In a World Cup that has not had a team much better than the others, Colombia had an interesting team. Good individualities and, at times, good collective performance. Hence his ambitions.

The good and bad

Cárdenas assembled a team that was competitive, which had some high points, except against Italy, when everything went wrong. The DT ended up finding a base team and gave it continuity, integrating Thomas Angel, which he did not take to the South American, and that was a success – he scored 3 goals. And he was lucky to have individuals like Yaser Asprilla, which, although intermittent, showed its ability; also Óscar Cortés, who was the team’s top scorer with 4 goals; Luis Marquinesphenomenal shortstop, and the winger Andres Salazar.

But it was a team that was confused against a weighty rival like Italy. He forgot the script: the full-backs couldn’t even breathe, the defense, which allowed 7 goals in the tournament, faltered, the passing game was a bomb from which everyone fled, individualities disappeared and the collective was shipwrecked.

In general, it was confirmed that a great scorer was missing, because Jader Durán was not borrowed; what was significant was that Cortés put on that suit, but in the final game he did not shine, neither he nor anyone else: Durán was missing…

Another sin of this selection was its difficulty to set conditions from the beginning, and that is why they ended up suffering in the early stages: they started by losing their three group games, and that is not normal. But, likewise, the team showed rebellion and character.

Colombia, said Cárdenas himself, had the objective of reaching the final. And as the tournament progresses, it didn’t seem like a far-fetched idea. This is why elimination in quarters leaves a bitter taste, a boring gesture There was no team for the feat; what is there is future…

PAUL ROMERO
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@PabloRomeroET

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