Under-20 World Cup: a flurry of goals from Colombia to eliminate Slovakia and wait for a ‘big’ European in the quarter-finals

Colombia filled up with goals. In a match studded with inaccuracies, the South American team earned a ticket to the quarter-finals of the Under 20 World Cup thanks to an indisputable 5-1 over Slovakia, at the San Juan Bicentennial Stadium, and now he is waiting for a European ‘giant’, as he will face the winner of the match between Italy AND England.

Slovakia he didn’t know how to make use of the space he was given Colombia in the first minutes of the match, so that you can dominate ball possession for a long time after the coffee farmers they have adopted a passive stance allowing the rival to take control. The Europeans suffered the repeated inaccuracies in his short and long passagescausing each of the plays to have a certain degree of awkwardness and, consequently, less danger.

- Advertisement -

When Colombia made up their mind, and started to put pressure on the Europeans after detecting the mistakes, it caused some discomfort to their rival who started to progressively lose possession. After 30 minutes of the match, the coffee farmers they have taken their best chance. In fact, the clearest was obtained from a robbery in midfield, allowing the attacker Thomas Angelo -son of former River striker Juan Pablo- remains hand in hand with the goalkeeper adam damcothat he just had to watch the ball go wide.

Gradually, Colombia has started to gain ground and generate some opportunities. Mainly when the tandem Yaser Asprilla AND Oscar Cortez they were able to connect a series of passes and filter the ball into Slovakia’s crowded midfield.

Two minutes into the second half, the failure of the Slovakian players was discovered and evident, after a defensive error when they tried to play from below with the ball. The defender Marej Ujlaky wanted to play on the right wing but the pressure from Cortés put him in trouble and, after stealing the ball, he decided to put the 1-0 in favor.

And in one shot that only lasted six minutesTHE coffee farmers They managed to take advantage of all the opportunities that arose after opening the scoring. Two minutes later, after the Colombian goal gave the lead, Cortés and Asprilla combined in an excellent way, including the block, and the ’10’ scored a powerful shot that goalkeeper Danko was unable to stop for the 2-0 partial.

The line of three Slovakian defenders found themselves in trouble two minutes later, when a pass in midfield found them badly positioned and the coffee farmers has been able to capitalize, transforming the 3-0 at the foot of Thomas Angelowhich completed the afternoon of goals for the forwards.

With the gap of three partials, the match was completely dominated by the Colombians due to the confidence gained from the result that the determined pressure gave them. This progress by the South Americans was favored by the low morale of Slovakia, which was eliminated in that barrage of goals, and immediately maintaining the attack position when the party needed security on the defensive line.

In the 63rd minute of the match, Colombia started to seal the win after getting the 4-0, joined by Ángel, who dashed any kind of hope the European team could have. The second phase concerned the regular start of the Slovakians and had nothing to do with what they had proposed in the first 20 minutes of the match, where they played as the team wanted.

Despite repeated strikes and missed chances by the coffee farmers to extend the score, Slovakia managed to get the ‘consolation’ goal after a header from Timotej Jambor, who connected a cross which landed on the penalty spot. But this goal is answered with another goal, which comes from Cortés, who closes the match four minutes into the game. 5-1 Definitive for South Americans.

Scoring goals in the second half appears to be a virtue for Colombia, who have scored eight goals in the tournament in the second half. Coffee farmers will await the result of the match between England and Italy, which will define their rival in the quarter-finals.