Colombia’s superstars shine in 3-0 dissection of Poland

Whew did Colombia need that. We hope you didn’t judge them on a match where they played 87 minutes with ten men and James Rodriguez starting on the bench. As it turns out, they’re pretty formidable with 11 men and James on the field for 90 minutes.

Colombia still sits behind Senegal and Japan in the Group H standings, but they control their own destiny. If Colombia beats Senegal, they’re in the Round of 16. Poland, meanwhile, have been eliminated from the World Cup.

OK, this is a very good run and finish by Cuadrado. Give him his credit. But oh my god, THE ASSIST. James Rodriguez, take several bows. In fact, for the last 15 minutes of this game, just stand at the corner flag and bow over and over while the crowd cheers. Passes don’t get any better than this.

The legend gets his first career World Cup goal at 32 years old! Falcao missed the last World Cup with a knee injury, but he worked his way back into the team after some poor seasons, and it’s awesome that he got to have this incredible moment. Juan Fernando Quintero set him up with an excellent pass, and the finish was even better.

It took a while for Colombia to get into the match, but they looked well in control heading into halftime. Plenty of pretty play preceded Yerry Mina’s goal, while Poland has het to get a shot on target.

If this score stands, Colombia reclaims its own qualification destiny, while Poland would be eliminated.

This has been a very back-and-forth game until about the 30th minute, when Colombia really started to take control. And in the 40th minute, they finally took advantage, with James Rodriguez setting up Mina with a fantastic chip.

My god.

It’s a big game for Wílmar Barrios, who comes into the Colombia lineup due to Carlos Sanchez’s suspension. James Rodriguez is in the lineup from the start too after having his minutes limited in the first game due to a slight injury. Poland makes three changes too — none of Jan Bednarek, Jacek Goralski or Dawid Kownacki started the first match. All three are up-and-coming young players with five or fewer caps.

After bad first games, Colombia and Poland are in bad shape in World Cup Group H. Both have no points, and are in serious need of a win against each other on Sunday. That could make for an extremely wide-open match. The game kicks off at 11 a.m. ET on FOX and Telemundo. You can watch the game online on Fox Sports Go in English and Telemundo Deportes en vivo in Spanish.

Colombia lost defensive midfielder Carlos Sanchez to a red card early in their opener. As a result, he’s suspended for this game. Having 10 men certainly hurt Los Cafeteros in their first match, but there’s an argument that they’re better off without Sanchez in their lineup from the start.

Poland will be looking for more from star striker Robert Lewandowski in their second match. He was well contained by Senegal’s defense, and Poland needs him producing to have a chance of making it to the knockout rounds.

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