Well we won that Paraguay game 1-0, but we didn't really create a lot at all and scored a late winner if I remember correctly. I think we were missing James most of those games which is like a double negative, I wonder if that changes much, it shoud. At Brazil and Argentina I think there's an argument. Clearly based on the product we've seen today it was really the wrong choice, I don't care who plays there we need a deep playmaker beside a 5 against Brazil. We got lucky Argentina tied and Chile lost, but its a big opportunity wasted today.
We need a draw or win against Brazil. I was hoping the Brazil game was going to be a game we can afford to lose. Enjoy Labor Day weekend. Pics to come on Sunday of the atlético nacional friendly in Red Bull arena
This notion is why we lost today. Focusing on the league a guy plays in, or club a guy plays for, or a guy's age is the only reason why anyone would put in Barrios over Aguilar today. Or Cuellar or Celis, for that matter. Aguilar ALWAYS plays well and Colombia typically plays better when he's on the field than when he's off it. Sure the double 5 didn't work today, but the fault is not in the formation. No system is inherently good or bad. It's personnel. Sanchez-Valencia were on the field when we beat Brazil, for instance. The point is, you should base your formation and system on your best players--not the other way around. And "best" is determined first and foremost by National Team form, not club. Today's double 5 did not work because Sanchez and Barrios don't click, because 5 foot tall Chara was playing up top to contend long passes instead of out on the wing, because Falcao had to wrestle 3 defenders to get a ball, and because Cuadrado became the guy who dictated all of our play.
we need to stop wearing our current ones !! making us play like shit !! I doubt we will get one till the WC. They aren't going to make us use one for last 3 games and then new ones in 6 months. Who going to be able to buy that many uniforms
dude Abel is done. He isn't even a starter for Cali. You guys just want him because he the only guy that Pekerman will play that can pass the fking ball in the middle. The game where we totally bossed Ecuador which was our best. Wasn't it Perez-Torres. Fine I don't want that now but these guys did well because they know how to defend and then what to do with the ball I don't like Carlos Sanchez because he is a 3rd CB. Why not just play a 3rd FKING CB !! Our wingback suck. I know Arias he great in Holland but in Yellow he hasn't been that impressive. All our left backs are utter shit. MF Cuadrado needs to be less of a bitch and not fall so easily and stop going for the skill move. Do whatever is easiest bro and play like an a-hole after we are at least 1 up. No James no Party. Cardona like all our other #10s just completely and utterly shit their pants when they are asked to be the guy. Forwards..... Falcao is way way way way way way way way way too fking slow to play in the position Pekerman wants him to play. He was our best player the team should have played to his strengths they didn't and he ended up playing as a DM to try to get the ball and do something. Chara? Wtf was he playing RW? Or CF? Again getting the ball in MF and having to beat 5-7 dudes only happens in FIFA or if your name is Messi. He def should have passed to Falcao but that was still a great run. Now Pekerman.... you guys can't say I am shitting on him now I have been hating on him all qualifiers and this is the shit that makes me angry. He needed to make a sub right at the start of the 1st half. Everyone agree that not playing with 2 CFs wasn't working.... the 2 DMs wasn't working. We had 0 MF and Falcao was marked by like 6 dudes. But no !!! Pekerman didn't do anything then his changes didn't help the team at all. Like With Bolillo and Lara their U20 GK looked like fking Oliver Kahn out there
If that was our best game, then the Ecuador match in Quito is definitely our second best. Who started that match? ABEL and SANCHEZ. And road matches are definitely tougher than road games. Cut that Cali nonsense. Cali's trash right now and it's only a matter of time before Cardenas gets fired. Roa went from our best player when we won the title to now being on the bench under Cardenas. Besides, Aguilar does start, just not every single match. 21 starts compared to Perez' 30. Do you watch the games? Sanchez hasn't played that far back in the pitch since before Pekerman. The guy weaves in and out of opposing players like one of our AMs to retain possession sometimes. He's a warrior and NO CDM has done what he has for Colombia in a decade. Cuadrado was our only guy moving the ball today. He ran his @$$ off all match. He goes overboard with the fanciness, but taking those fouls gave Colombia all our possession and pause. You're barking up the wrong tree. Cardona was not asked to be the guy. If he was, he'd have played where Chara was. That was the problem. When Cardona got the ball, he had to cut in on Venezuela with NO support or overlapping runs from Fabra and a Chara that gave away half the balls he touched. Notice how we never saw Chara on the wing for a second until Gio came on? Pekerman placed Gio on the pitch with the responsibility to dictate play. He crapped his pants badly. Perhaps Cardona would have in that position too, but he didn't get the chance to. Chara finally getting shifted to the left also resulted in that guy's only big plays of the day. He should have been where Edwin was playing from the start of the match. I'm with you on this. You can't leave Falcao on an island like you would a Jhon Cordoba or a Duvan Zapata. I don't think that 2 CFs was the solution--you yourself said our best game was a match we played with 1 striker--but yes, this game was screaming for changes right at the half. Atrocious response from Pekerman and his staff. The thing is, what would have changed the match, what did end up changing the match when it finally happened, was putting in Aguilar. Something you are clearly against. This is why everyone takes your pouting with a grain of salt. You criticize but don't properly analyze.
Decided not to stream the game while I was in class...looks like I made a good choice. I recorded it at home but by the comments I think Id rather not even watch it. The double 5 has not worked and I think all of us can agree to that which is saying something. If we all see it, then so should Pekerman.
I didnt watch the game but that kid is crazy talented. I watched him throughout the u-20 world cup and if he wasnt Venezuelan he most definitely would be in Europe already.
pretty annoyed we didn't win today. Now we have to hope we can do something against Brazil. Shame Falcao didn't score that chance in the 1st half
trying to speak sense to crzd is like talking to an 8 year old. Its really annoying honestly how he just says the same annoying crap week after week and we tell him the same exact thing and then he goes and says the same dumb shit over and over and over.
Ok so we played awesome today? Pekerman is the world best coach and James hasn't somehow saved our asses for 5 years but everyone gives Pekerman all the credit? You know when people talk shit.... and it's true it is when it hurts more.
To CrZD's credit I will say that if things continue the way they are, we will get our @$$es handed to us at some point in Russia. If the hope is that everyone will be healthy and in good form by June 2018, and that everything will all of a sudden click, that's an awfully big gamble. If watching futbol has taught me anything, momentum is critical and right now we haven't created any real momentum to establish an identity A good team will capitalize on our defensive blunders and poach a goal in or take advantage of an ospina deflection, etc. There were moments of brilliance but someone earlier said it best - our passing was very telegraphed and always was to a player at his location not where he should be (I.e into open space). After the Brazil game we can assess things better.
Problem with Colombian fans is the fear of change. Pekerman should have been fired in 2015 or 2016 after the Copa Americas and 12 games of utter shit play and calling players regardless of play time. The fear of getting Maturana or Bolillo again needs to go away it won't happen. Fans won't allow it. This team needs a mentality change and a change in leadership. We don't have wingbacks and have 6-8 very good CBs then play 3 in the back. Chile does it with shitty defends who are like 5'8. Also play to win. Other Colombian coaches would get shit on for not doing that but Pekerman is celebrated when he does. Finish off games early! And show up on time. Colombia starts every game around the 20th minute and then with 15 to go is praying to tie or win. It's frustrating to watch.
It wasn't pleasant to watch, but I didn't think that we played so bad. We created chances, mostly at the end of the first half and second half, but Fariñez was awesome. We deserved to win despite playing not good. It was always tricky for us to play as favorites but besides Brazil, I cannot see any team who impress in this qualifiers. We need to qualify, and then in Russia it's a short tournament who is built on momentum. I believe that this forum knows exactly how talented our players are. And yes, I think that Pekerman needs to try and return to the successful 4-2-2-2 that worked so well in the last qualifiers. Tigre-Chara, Tigre-Teo or Tigre-Muriel.
I was glad to see us put shots on goal. Chara was able to do that, Falcao was able to do that. Even Gio Moreno had a nice shot on goal Unfortunately all of those shots were saved by their young athletic keeper. Hopefully the bounces go our way on Tuesday.
There are several truths in what you say here and some things which I personally disagree with as well (we have already discussed at length). Overall - post 2014, we have definitely underachieved. I think everyone here can agree on that. Yes, we finished third in CA 2016 and yes we are currently 2nd in WCQ but how many games have we won convincingly with the offensive power that we have? Is Abel Aguilar the one player who makes that big difference? I get we need to build depth and put players like barrios in the hot seat from time to time. But it is concerning that one player in the deep midfield totally changes our entire style of play. Glass half full? We have learned to grind out points in tough games and not let offensive lapses make our defense fall apart. Italy 2006 grinded their way to a WC title and Portugal recently won the euros in similar fashion. Spain won 2010 by winning nearly all their games 1-0 but played Barcelona style possession although, better teams than Venezuela will pick us apart if we have brain farts on defense.
I don't like playing the hypothetical game of "better teams will do this or that against us" based on what we saw on the road in Venezuela. Every game is different. Every team is different. Every scenario is different. Let's face the facts, Venezuela matches up well with us. They know how to play us and we have not beaten them at their home since the Valderrama days. This individual game will not tell us how we will play next summer. Heck, this isolated game can't even tell us how we will play next Tuesday.
You don't have to play, but it's true. anyone who played any sport growing up knows this is true. And you are correct that every game is different but that is why teams watch video of opposing teams so they can find ways to exploit their areas of weakness. Two games that come to mind are the chile game in CA 16 and the Argentina wcq game where we lost 3-0. Lots of those goals were from foolish defensive lapses more than us being outskilled. I find it hard to accept that Argentina had their best offensive game (3 goals) against us. Argentina - 15 goals in 15 games (2nd worst at moment) vs our defense - 15 goals allowed in 15 games (2nd best defense at moment)
There is no other player on this team that frustrates me more than Cuadrado. It falls more on how talented the guy is and how long he's been in Europe but always seems to make the wrong move. He really needs to play better and given his resume and experience should be performing a lot better.
Win or lose, you'll be fine. Peru won against Bolivia and are in the race for the World Cup. I don't see Colombia as one of our competitors. Just Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. Colombia justs need to win or draw 1 game and you're in.
It is not true because there are different factors and different variables that contribute to how a team does in a World Cup. Watching Spain play against Switzerland in the Group stages of 2010 would have made anyone say "Wow. If they play a better team with better finishing, Spain will lose in the knockout stages!" It is not as simple as that.
you might be right. But i've seen too many close calls to not be worried. would be absolutely devastating to miss out on the WC. I don't even want to contemplate it
It depends on the next matchday. I'm going to be optimistic and think we'll beat Ecuador, so I will say we will be in the running. I'm going more on the fact that if Chile lose in La Paz and Uruguay draw or win in Asuncion, then you're almost a guarantee for at least 5th place.