Colombian National Team General Thread

I don't feel bad at all. They haven't done any favours for us ever (and they shouldn't).

They had the advantage and they squandered it. As we have done before so many times.

Good we had Luis Suarez. That could be a gem.

 

I completely disagree. This was a horrendous 2nd half to the WCQ for Lorenzo. That was not fun to watch. Stats don't say it all. We had a HUGE cushion going back to pre-Copa. We also had a bit of a crutch knowing that 6 teams would qualify directly and the 7th would have a playoff, so we really didnt ever feel like we had no hope. He had NO IDEAS.

Lorenzo reacted way too late to our team not responding and struggled. He was overwhelmed and kept using same tactics. He went from a TEAM of 11 warriors + a super bench to an over reliance on James. He rarely benched some of his "star" underperforming players - James, Arias, Lerma, Munoz despite awful CONSECUTIVE games.

But we're in the WC. Lorenzo has to step up and use all his experience to know our strengths and weaknesses. We're not a "garra" team. We're not going to fight to the 100th minute. So how can we win in 80 minutes of futbol. That's what we got.

We have to be an offensive juggernaut. I know some of u are probably laughing. But we suck at defense. 28 GF is a great stat for Colombiam have never score more goals in a WCQ. 18 GA is not great but it is our reality, And you saw it today vs Vzla. I couldnt believe how with with a 3+ goal difference our defenders got so complacent. Their passes, their intensity was zilch. That has to be improved. Never mind the 1st 2 goals.

But offensively, we can do some serious damage. Lorenzo needs to figure this out.

 

We got unlucky vs Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay

that would have gotten us to 2nd.

as pissed as I was for losing a man and goal up vs Bolivia. If you can’t breathe then you can’t win.

coach needs to make better and quicker subs

find a LB for the World Cup and a partner for Sanchez who will be Lucumi if he recovers him form or yerson unless we can convince the arsenal wanabe Spaniard to join us

then it’s Duran, Cucho, Borre or another for 3rd striker. Not sold on cordoba

think playing in the US will force us to call James and Diaz for marketing.

I want to give mier another shot in these games. Find a 2nd and 3rd keeper. Spot is Vargas spot.

a year to go and really only need a starting LB not terrible. And a stronger bench

 

Diaz and James are performing czd no need for marketing. And Cordoba is soild. He will be in the WC

 

yeah cordoba is really good and he found the net again....

 

Honestly I do think these final 2 matches were what we needed in terms of ending qualification.

We got very good results (yes I rather we didnt give up 3 goals to Venezuela but a win is a win) and so many of our players that we needed to contribute for goals stepped up.

 

Game started shaky but kudos to the team for keeping it together despite the intensity of the early Venezuela goals.

Meier and Ángulo were both awful but I’ll be one of the few that would like to see them both get future minutes in the upcoming friendlies.

We have had other players make multiple mistakes in the past who were recurring callups. Looking forward to the friendlies. Will share some wcq stats tomorrow

 

It was obvious that changing the keeper and 3 defenders created a lot of communication problems, and that’s how the first goal arrived. Angulo was out of position on both goals, and he didn’t bring much on attack, so I guess Mojica is safe.

And while he couldn’t do much in the first goal, Mier is at fault in the other two goals, and it’s the same problem, he doesn’t push the ball to the side, he puts it in the middle of the area.

But I also think that because of the early goals, Colombia woke up and ended up routing Venezuela. If the score was 1-0 at halftime, I think it would have ended 1-1 or 2-1, but Colombia was forced to dig deep and that’s changed the momentum and also, exposed Venezuela’s weaknesses.

 

But that’s not how you look at processes. He was hired to do a job. And the results, however you want to spin them, were that we ended 3rd in qualifiers and made a copa final. We had a super good stretch, a super bad stretch, and some normal stretches.

Had we known ahead of time we will finish third and go to extra time in a copa final and had some 27 game unbeaten streak in between, WE WOULD HAVE ALL signed up for it.

we just don’t like the bad stretch but that’s not how results are judged

 

Also during our bad stretch, our worst players were Rios Munoz and arias but they are fan favorites so we always blamed the over reliance on James lol

 

We cannot say that James wasn't a huge performer for us this qualifiers, again even if his club form is ASS he was great for us. We can criticize the rest of the team and Lorenzo for not finding other solutions, but James was key when we were really playing well and he was never really the one to let us down. Lorenzo might have been brave and tried some other stuff but James deserves praise again this qualifiers for stepping up when we needed him, but we have just under a year to figure out some new tactical looks and possibly formation and maybe less James dependency could be better but I won't hold my breath.

 

I mean rather them not play to see alternatives

Also really hope we get December, January, February non fifa day friendlies so we can try Mexican, argie, Brazilian and Colombian league guys

again not calling the clear starters to those games. We can work on the chemistry later but the team is pretty much set minus the LB that is mo

I'd give Mier another shot. Vargas was also terrible when first given shots. We only have 2 GKs unless he finally gives a shot to another Colombian league one.

 

Everything should be erased from our minds.
The World Cup is different than qualifyings, we have to start from scratch. Experimenting with lineups and tactics in friendlies will be key. More than likely the core players will play mind you, but a lot can happen before June.

Remember Rios never started for us prior to the Copa America. Lorenzo may have other tricks up his sleeve when it comes to debuts in a Major tournament. So it is going to be fun to speculate what the lineup and tactics will be come summer of '26.

 

Give Mier more minutes. Is the young Dept Cali Goalie who was called before still playing? We can't give Vargas and Ospina minutes at 37 in friendlies when we don't have options . Wish Nacional didn't just take every GK in the league.

Play without James. Quintero for a half or Arias for a half in that spot. Or replace them with a winger Gomez, Sini, Marino (if he recovers his form)

Play with 2 strikers. Try 3 in the back. No LB or Cabal who is a LCB. He stays back and Munoz goes up to attack with Lerma being our 3rd CB

How would Suarez - Duran/Cordoba play together.

who are the young prospect we will bring at 25th/26th player = Gomez, Asprilla, Solis will they have good half seasons before the WC. The Millos #9 from the U20 seems dumber than Duran with worst agents. So thats not happening.

 

We're not playing 2 strikers. Diaz is basically a 9 often, just push him closer to the goal and remain flexible, we don't have good 9's why would we want to get more of them on the field when we have very good wide forwards who offer much more than a 9 who stands and waits for service.

We should try some new things for sure though but small tweaks and moreso we probably need to move on from the false winger position and vacating the right wing and forcing a 9 to play and defend from wide. I do think we should try something like

Diaz-Suarez-(Sinni/Arias/Gomes/Arias
---------James
Castano-------Rios

But where the right winger actually stays and plays there and James works for 60 minutes and is subbed, or you just put Arias in James spot and play a 4-3-3 but we need more options where we have 2 players on each side that can stay wide and hold width to create space in the middle. Deossa or James also an option.

 

Colombians attitude never ceases to amaze me

we haven’t had a reliable striker in years, we may still not have one.

Suarez plays in a very open game and scores 4

normal functional human: Great! We may have found a solution and I hope he can perform like this!

Velez and most Colombians in an angry voice: F Lorenzo. We had this guy all along and never played him or gave him a chance.


We don’t deserve good things

 

These mier bloopes arent of this match....it have been like the 10th blooper of this year. is the onana of this part of the world

 

Keepers are probably going to be among the usuals. Vargas, Ospina, Mier. Maybe Montero or Devis if they get playing time and look good. I do not expect any surprises there or youngsters. Especially youngsters who play in Colombia.

We could see matches without James (starting). How many matches depends on mostly his form and health.

Three in the back will probably never happen.
Forget about Cabal until he gains minutes and form. Which there is no guarantee either of those things will happen.

We may experiment with two strikers. We did it against Japan earlier in the cycle with Santos Borre and Duran. So I am open to it but it will not be a priority.

Gomez, Yaser, Solis, Puerta. If Neyser plays well with Sini I can see him getting a chance.
Players who play well in the Sub 20 World Cup may also sneak in somehow but you are probably right CrzD. I would not bet on it.

 

Cabal will play with Juve, especially now in the situation they're in. He'll be back

 

Maybe. But until then (and him playing regularly at a high level) I will not pencil him into any lineups or rosters.
Between Mojica/Machado/C Borja and even Fuentes it is getting a bit crowded at that position battle.
Angulo probably played himself out of it but who knows?

 

In Angulo's defense....i will say

1. Uribe - played scared shitless in his first official game - ended up being valuable to the 2018 WC team and lasted through the 2024 copa america (for better or worse)

2. Medina - pooped him during the 2014 WCQ process in those games against Uruguay/Chile (i am sure we all remember) Ended up coming around being a decent RB alternative to Arias, but ended up being a squad member for years to come...

 

Cabal, Yerson and Sini are three players worth tracking and seeing how their seasons progress in terms of match fitness.

I can see Yerson quickly being a regular starter for Wolves b/c their defense is awful.

Sini - you never know what leg problems he will have on a week to week basis. sad to say - this one bums me out the most...

Cabal - last i read, he was in training so we shall see where he's at by end of the calendar year...

 

Guarin got instantly red carded in his first game haha

 

I think Munoz did as well lol

 

yea but Guarin was a top prospect and had scored a few in France. I don't think Munoz had that type of hype around him.

Ospinas first play in yellow was stopping a PK because Calero or Rufay got red carded