With six games and 557 minutes of drought, Colombia entered – hand in hand with Paraguay- in the little honorable table of world teams that do not score goals. It shares the list of ineffective with territories like Anguilla, Seychelles, Bahamas, where they are aware that the ball is round, not much else. And let’s clarify that Anguilla has 14,000 inhabitants.
Notwithstanding this, the reputation of Colombian soccer players remains intact and shiny: they are “the stars that triumph in Europe”. The players, all of them, are very lucky beings. This reminds us of “Coutinho’s immense talent”, a languid and apathetic midfielder, with a certain good command of the ball, who has been failing for years, but who, whenever he is mentioned, is recited the hackneyed “immense talent”. It’s like a prefix. To call Colombia you have to dial 57 first, to refer to Coutinho, the “immense…” goes first. An invisible talent, but which allows Cou to be the subject of super-millionaire transfers and collect 16 million euros per year (tax-free).
(Also read: James Rodríguez got out of his clothes: he insulted fans on his way to the locker room)
Which Colombian players make a real difference?
What should be asked is that, apart from Ospina, Barrios, Cuadrado and Díaz, which are stars and which are successful? Let’s talk seriously, in football terms and not marketing or social networks. Apart from that quartet of indisputable, there are good elements as well as other selections. Or there are the cases of James and Falcao, whose physical parabola is clearly declining. But the blame always falls on the coach, before Queiroz, now Rueda, on Jesurún, on “the journalism that first despises them and then tears them apart”… Never on the players. So, fine, let’s keep the “stars” banner for them, but please don’t call them “net breakers” or “gunners” or “gunners”, let’s save those epithets for the Lewandowskis, Haalands and Mbappés…
Carlos Queiroz (This afternoon his Egypt plays the quarterfinals of the African Cup), he has a strong responsibility, he did not know how to put together a competitive team. He had a lot of time, but he left no base, nothing, zero. Reinaldo Rueda, his: he took the sick man with game and goal anemia and did not improve him much, he barely recomposed him defensively and made him fight. And Jesurún, in any case, will be that he chose the wrong coach to start the project. But they do not enter the field.
There are accounts that the protagonists must pay. If the equipment does not work, sometime you have to save it individually. Peru had only one: Cueva’s pass was brilliant and Édison Flores’ definition was spectacular. Ospina could slap his ears, but the number 20 shot was a whiplash, violent, low and, most importantly, it went between the three sticks. He didn’t slip or throw it out or hand it over to the goalkeeper. He did everything right and settled. That is asked of some of the Colombian attackers. Define one. Someone who wins a rebound, a header, who hits a shot. Somebody make a goalscorer goal. What is a goalscorer goal…? One born out of nowhere, with an unexpected half turn, anticipating the marker, deflecting a ball into the net, putting the toe of the shoe. Something that comes from insight, cunning or repentización.
There is an individual problem of execution, it is very clear. That gets worse as the games without goals increase, because then it becomes karma, obsession, unbearable pressure. And there is another, more serious, collective: this team has no game generation. The goal situation appears in three ways: 1) by hand-to-hand, avoiding rivals. Bochini used to say: “If I dribble past one, a teammate is free to score, if I dribble past two, it’s already a goal situation”. Because the path of rivals is cleared. But in Colombia, except for Luis Díaz, no one faces, they are all passes. And not filtered passes, but side passes. 2) By mobility. The constant dynamic offers download options and generates spaces, and spaces, opportunities. 3) By change of rhythm. Acceleration produces imbalance.
(Also: Egan Bernal: Beloki and Horrillo, stories of faith for the Colombian idol)
The problem is that this Colombia is monorhythmic, already a tiresome train, it starts at twenty and continues at twenty. In three quarters of the field you have to accelerate to be able to surprise. There would be a fourth factor, which is the mid-distance shot, however, that already responds to individual virtues. The Peruvian goal is not counted as an operation because it was born by chance, a ball lost in the middle by Chará, with the entire team ahead, attacking desperately and offering giant gaps behind that do not occur under normal conditions.
“To work on the generation you need time. And Rueda doesn’t have it and never had it. He faced Peru with two previous training sessions. It’s impossible to work tactically.”
To work on generation takes time. And Rueda does not have it and never had it. He faced Peru with two previous training sessions. It is impossible to work tactically. The orchestras are armed with rehearsals. Gareca has been in Peru for seven years. And many of its players performed or still perform in the local tournament. He had them or has them on hand. What happens then…? That the same formula is repeated over and over again, a midfielder that goes up with the ball, opens to the right for Cuadrado or to the left for Mojica and they launch a center (often faulty) and a rival who waits buckled behind, as in In this case Peru, it is like throwing chocolate bombs at it, a delight.
Even so, Colombia dominated very widely. The statistics speak of 68% yellow possession, which sounds meager. We felt it was so much more. And he had countless approaches, although no clear goal situation. But he searched by air, sea and land and had total dedication and generosity. James is right to ask people for respect, they left everything. The commitment is beyond question. And it must be the most unfair defeat in history. Although this game does not know justice or injustice, the tyranny of the goal prevails, and perhaps that is why it is so exciting. A digression: James put the soul and has what the others do not, the spark, pity that the physical already prevents him from lighting the fire. Another: Ospina was not happy with the goal, he thought that Flores was kicking cross and neglected the near post, let’s also say that he had dozens of happy afternoons and nights.
The mistakes that have Colombia in trouble
This is a qualified squad, not superior to those of Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador or Uruguay, it is capable of fighting for a World Cup position, but the process was born badly and lost possibilities. Ramón Jesurún was not entirely fond of Pekerman and decided to change. Too bad Queiroz wasn’t the man. It’s not about material either. These people couldn’t beat Brazil either there or back, with Argentina at home, nor with Ecuador and Uruguay, they weren’t capable against Bolivia there, they couldn’t beat the worst Paraguay in history in a double cross, now they lose to Peru … But we never hear footballers say “it’s our fault”. It is always from others.
(In other news: ‘The fans don’t touch’: Pibe Valderrama’s dart to James Rodríguez)
There are still nine points ahead, yes, but be careful, you have to win them… Now you have the advantage of the absences of Argentina, which was left without ten players, six of them starters: Cuti Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico, Paredes, De Paul and Messi. It is the opportunity to add again, although now he must do it in threes. Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador are already inside, Uruguay has rearranged itself and it is difficult for it to fall. Fourth place is a memory of a better past. Colombia no longer depends on itself. Now we have to take on the playoff.
last tango…
Jorge Barraza
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
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