Colombia vs. Ivory Coast, 2014 World Cup: Cafeteros prevail, just barely

James Rodriguez is a man of many talents. He scores goals, he assists goals, and he pops giant beach balls.

It’s very unfortunate that this thing didn’t interfere with play, or that they didn’t decide to just play with the huge ball. It’s not THAT big.

However, the convincing way Ivory Coast came from behind to brush Japan aside in their first match suggests it could be a tougher game than Colombia would’ve hoped. They’re a team with tremendous pace and power in their lineup, and with Los Cafeteros often leaving a lot of space in behind their defence when attacking, Les Éléphants could take advantage with their width.

Colombia surprised by starting a lopsided 4-2-3-1 in their opening win over Greece, with Víctor Ibarbo starting on the left over the more out-and-out striker Carlos Bacca. José Pekerman could be forced into doing the same again against Ivory Coast, with the Sevilla forward having left their training session with a muscular injury on Sunday. No changes are expected to their starting team.