On February 13 (just three and a half months ago), the day after the end of the South American Youth Soccer Championship that was played in Cali and Bogotá, I wrote in this same column that the Colombia sub-20 team That deservedly qualified for the World Cup from which they were eliminated last Saturday with their unquestionable 3-1 defeat against Italy, it was a flat team that had nothing to spare and lacked football.
(You may be interested in: Colombia Sub-20 Selection: acceptable present and promising future)
Having qualified for the quarterfinals of the World Cup is a good result for national football –which is located between fourth and seventh place in the area– and for the team that had and It had a little more individuality than play and technical direction, headed by Héctor Cárdenas.
to the facts
To the facts: Colombia played poorly against Israel, but won. Valley. Then they beat Japan with the same flat game of the South American that caused neither cold nor heat. It’s okay too. He played badly again against Senegal and tied in the 95th minute like nothing. It was worth. Always coming from behind, wasting the early days and appealing more to the spark and self-esteem of the boys.
(Also read: With Óscar Cortés, but without Mackalister Silva: this is how Millionaires go for the South American)
Colombia Sub-20 team
In the round of 16 they crushed Slovakia after giving away the first half again and thanks to a flurry of three goals in four minutes, between 2 and 6 of the second half, for the 5-1. It was, obviously and by far, the best.
On Saturday he gave away the first half again, but the spark and self-esteem were not enough to come back, and this time it was surpassed by the serious, closed, effective and detailed tactical and strategic plan of Italy, which knew that the Colombian defense was of rubber and smoke and that the attack, without a gunner, crashed against walls.
The end result of qualifying for the World Cup and playing in the quarterfinals is good for national football and for this flat team, without much genius, with sparks, willful and little technical direction.
(Also read: Zlatan Ibrahimovic cries and makes Milan cry: he announced his retirement from football; video)
Colombia thrashed and is in the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup.
The learned jingoistic intelligentsia of soccer takes refuge in the argument that the World Cups and South Americans are only «to discover players» and that in this team there are ‘pelaos’ who paint a lot, like Door, Asprilla or Cortés… All excellent promises, but, in white silver, none was a crack in Argentina.
I repeat how I started: just the day after the end of the South American Youth, I wrote in this same column that this flat U-20 team was missing cracks. Now, well, none of them burst either: it’s the same team and the same DT that couldn’t put together a strong defense or find the formula so that the team doesn’t always row against the current.
There is no need to make dramas for having lost against Italy 3-1 and being eliminated in the quarterfinals World Cup final: the result for our size M football is good and normal for the category, but the will and sparks of the boys lacked technical skills. That sheath!
Meluk tells him
GABRIEL MELUK
SPORTS editor
@MelukLeCuenta
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