Group D produced perhaps the most surprising “upset” of the first games and a Colombia legend reminded us of his greatness.
James Rodriguez assisted on both of Colombia’s first half goals as they held on to beat Paraguay 2-1 while in the nightcap Brazil was held scoreless by an organized Costa Rican defense.
COLOMBIA 2, PARAGUAY 1
Rodriguez never reached the heights we thought he could at club level, but he’s still a world class legend when he puts on his country’s yellow shirt.
Both teams traded long range efforts in the opening half hour, but Colombia having the edge in the quality of chances taking advantage of turnovers. In the 32nd minute, they would capitalize on such an opportunity as a Jhon Arias half intercepted/half recovered a loose touch from Paraguay and laid it off to Rodriguez on the left sideline.
Rodriguez had ample time to send in his cross, finding a streaking Daniel Munoz who powered home a header. Ten minutes later, Julio Enciso of Paraguay pulled down Richard Rios giving Rodriguez a chance to send in a free kick from the right sideline. Again a sublime cross found a yellow shirt, and this time the flick header of Jefferson Lerma doubled the Cafeteros lead before halftime.
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Paraguay would do their best to get back into the match, and their star striker would provide a moment of brilliance in the in the 69th minute. Paraguay worked hard to maintain possession in their attacking half, and eventually broke away from a double team with Ramon Sosa down the left flank. His back post cross seemed too deep for anyone, but after it missed a leaping Colombia defender, Enciso one timed a shot from a tight angle into the far side netting.
Rodriguez and Luis Diaz had excellent chances to put the game away five minutes later, opting for a centering pass the was blocked out rather than a shot and a Diaz shot in the 75th found the outside of the net. A penalty was whistled in the 85th minute but was reversed after a VAR check as Colombia were able to see out the game.
BRAZIL 0, COSTA RICA 0
The most shocking result of the first run of games surely is the Ticos shutout of Brazil, who appeared to have no answer for the compact five man back line of Costa Rica.
Finishing with just 3-for-19 shooting by Brazil compared to the 0-for-2 by Costa Rica, and an approximate 1.7 – 0.05 xG tally, this match was another in a growing and disappointing list for the Selecao.
Aside from Costa Rica’s general lack of attacking, there were multiple penalty shouts in this game, primarily Vinicus’ bundling over in the second half being waved off. Brazil thought they had the opener through Marquinhos at the half hour mark after a set piece. Raphina played in a near post cross that was headed by Rodrygo towards the backpost. Marquinhos however was offside on that redirect and replay ruled out his close range effort.
GROUP OVERVIEW
Copa America 2024 Group D Primer: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay
This was the fear for Brazil that they could drop points along the way to their big time match with Colombia at the end of the group phase. Credit to Costa Rica for frustrating Brazil throughout the day, but the lack of team play and combination and reliance on individual brilliance has been an issue with this current Brazil squad.
Colombia now face a far easier road to the top spot of the group with a win over Costa Rica and a draw against Brazil more than enough to carry the group. Paraguay might think they have an opportunity as well though I can’t imagine them playing as defensive a game as Costa Rica.
Group D action continues on Friday June 28th with Colombia and Costa Rica at 5:45 pm from Glendale, Arizona and Paraguay and Brazil at 9 pm from Las Vegas with both games on FS1 and Unimas.
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Publish date : 2024-06-25 16:08:27
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