The Colombian national team took a small revenge for the defeat suffered in the final of the Copa America 2024 and this Tuesday beat Argentina (2-1), thus maintaining its undefeated record in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
James Rodriguez was the architect of the Colombian team’s resounding victory in the hot Barranquilla, while the world champion this time missed its star player, Lionel Messi, who was injured.
With this result, Colombia remains undefeated in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and has removed the bitter taste left by the Copa America, in which Argentina was crowned continental champions.
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Nestor Lorenzo’s team has 16 points in the table and is hot on Argentina’s heels with 18, awaiting the result of the match between Uruguay (15) and Venezuela (10) to define the top positions in the qualifiers.
Lionel Scaloni’s Argentine team was without Messi due to injury and Angel Di Maria after his retirement from the national team.
Debut of vindication
In the 11th minute, the first goal opportunity came for Argentina, as a result of a communication error between Colombian goalkeeper Camilo Vargas, who left the goal alone, and Mosquera.
A loose ball following an exchange between the two was taken advantage of by Argentine forward Julian Alvarez, who managed to finish with some difficulty, although the shot went wide of the Colombian goal.
But Mosquera’s slow start was short-lived and it was in the opponent’s area where the defender redeemed himself, in the 24th minute, scoring with a header after a millimetre-perfect cross from the legendary James Rodriguez.
The defender jumped with great momentum to reach the ball, just a few meters from Emiliano Martinez’s goal, and thus scored the first goal of the match in favor of Colombia.
Mosquera’s headers continued to shine in his own area during the first half. In the 41st minute, he sent a cross out for a corner kick that entered Vargas’s area and thus stopped a dangerous attack by Nico Gonzalez.
The Argentinas then got tangled up with two corner kicks, which bounced around the area without creating any major danger.
Fatal error and saving penalty
Scaloni’s team reacted quickly and made no mistakes at the start of the second half. It was James Rodriguez and Yerson Mosquera, who scored the first goal in the first half, who made a fatal mistake that cost Argentina the tie.
From midfield, in the 47th minute, Rodriguez tried to make a back pass that was quickly intercepted by Gonzalez, who stepped on the accelerator until he left Mosquera behind and in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Vargas led Argentina to a 1-1 draw.
The equal score lasted only a short time, as in the 53rd minute, Nicolas Otamendi stomped on Colombian Daniel Munoz to clear the ball out of the area.
After a VAR review, Chilean referee Piero Maza awarded a penalty to James, who scored a powerful left-footed shot to make it 2-1 and equal Radamel Falcao’s record of 13 goals in South American qualifiers.
A foul inside the area committed on Daniel Munoz was decided several minutes later. That’s when James Rodriguez stepped in to effectively take his penalty and seal Colombia’s fourth win in eight games without yet knowing defeat, confirming themselves as one of the teams that have been showing the best play in these South American qualifiers.
After the end of the match, goalkeeper Martinez had one more of his reprehensible actions by hitting a camera.
