I'm going to give a really unpopular opinion, but it needs to be said: Cuadrado single-handedly kills more Colombian attacks than anybody on the opponent's team. The way he always seeks out getting fouled before anything else is nothing new...but he can't keep doing that on counters when he has teammates on either side of him. Rewatch the last 20 minutes or so before Medina got subbed out. The dude was open 3-5 times, ready to cross in the ball while we were charging at Argentina with numbers. But, no, Cuadrado decides to do stupid spin moves and cut ins 30 meters away from goal. I'm thrilled with our tie, but this was an embarrassing offensive display at home. Borja's gol was the only clean opportunity we had the entire match. And while Cuadrado may have assisted it, we easily would've had 4-5 more shots if he didn't slown the attack down every goddamn time.
He consistently does this, sometimes he gets a cross that leads to a goal but lots of attacks slow down with him, its a constant.
He's upset me in the past with this, but I didn't feel it tonight. Thought he was immense. He believed for the whole team.
I think it's Barrios low key changing the course of the game by stealing back the ball when Muriel loses it. It's what allows C4 to get in the cross. Guy should be starting. Revive el gol de Borja para el 2-2#VamosColombia 🇨🇴#COLARG🎥 @GolCaracol pic.twitter.com/rsqZbRoDZx— Selección Colombia (@FCFSeleccionCol) June 9, 2021 Also - one thing you gotta give extra credit to Rueda on is that he switched his formation two times and we willing to try 3-4-1-2 and it worked.
when he put in Yairo for Medina.... he was playing on Tesillos side. So did we play with 3 in the back or was Cuadrado our RB? I was confused with the formation at that point. If we had gone to a 3-4-1-2 or a 3-4-3. I mean I had no idea where Yairo was I just know he was ahead of Tesillo. Dude barely did anything. Game changed when he put in Muriel. Then he made the big 3 subs in the 2nd half and it was completely different. We went out their to murder them. sadly we had to claw back a 2-0 because Zapata didn't shoot at goal in one of the last plays in the 1st half
Rewatch. Yairo did great for that little bit (helped that Arg was tired). We played 3412 to close out.
I agree that cuad stalls the attack at times...but tonight he was the only guy who was really able to control the pace of the game for us. There were stretches where we couldn’t create anything or even win the ball back and he was able to hold possession and calm things down when our guys were losing the ball right away. There also were several times where he won us fouls in dangerous areas of the pitch...and as bad as we are at defending set pieces, we are pretty good at taking them so with cuadrado you have to take the good with the bad and i really thought that today there was more good for sure from him.
One more thing on C4 growing up tonight, which I just read but was completely uncovered by the awful Fubotv commentators, is that he confronted Davinson after the second Argentine goal. Good for him. It's what veterans need to do to set the urgency and expectation and then he went out and willed the team back into the game little by little. Apparently, Mina - who I continue to think is the real captain of this team - got C4 and Davinson to shake hands and hug it out. It's little things like that where this was different than the Ecuador game. Veterans demanding better from each other and leading by example, others bringing teammates together, etc.
Reinaldo almost blew it, but he course corrected. I hate it when our coaches give way too much respect to other teams, giving away our identity in order to be more "solid". We are players capable of playing possession football and also counter attacking, we should use that to our advantage and stop the crap. When we give flair the freedom it needs it's just a wonderful thing. I sincerely hope that he gives the 3-4-1-2 a chance in the next games.
Cardona The game ended with something like this: Ospina Mina-Sanchez-Tesillo Cuadrado-Barrios-Uribe-Yairo ---------Cardona ---Muriel ------------------Borja
I personally like Lerma, but he shouldn’t be a starter when you already have two other CM’s like Cuellar and Uribe also playing. I think he needs to get back to playing top flight futbol. For me it’s a pet peeve starting a 2nd division player when you have someone like Barrios in the bench. Lerma should only start when Barrios/Uribe/Cuellar can’t play bc of yellow cards, 3rd game of a group stage where we are guaranteed to go to next round or friendlies to build confidence. It’s been said a dozen times since last night, Barrios is a 90 minute per game player.
Yes, I agree. It is a bittersweet flavor that he leaves. On one hand you must admired his leadership and willingness to move forward byt other hand, he is reluctant to pass the ball. I felt that Argentina dare him to pass the ball to Medina. Medina is actually a hell of crosses vy Colombian standards.
I agree. This Argentina is not a generational Argentina of the past or perhaps we have shorten the talent disparity of the past. Honestly, Colombia roster is capable of playing "tu a tu" with any team of this continent. This Brazilian edition gets even more respect than Argentina. This is probably why they have ran with qualifiers. Team lineup scare and sit back waiting for counters instead of facing them head on.
Yeah, i think nobody thinks he doesnt have skills to be in national team...but his style doesnt fit in the football rueda say that he pretends with colombia Is like guarin situation with pekerman.....he didnt fit as cmf, we needed in that position a first touch guy like abel or aldo...despite he was one of the best gyys in europe...
I saw a commentator on Twitter say in the South American qualifiers you have to scrap away with the “playing beautiful” you do whatever it takes to make the World Cup. It can be the ugliest win but a win is a win. If you look at the other games no one is playing well it’s like a war right now for those 3pts. Luckily everything was in our favor this round. But I’m starting to look at qualifiers like copa libertadores just aggressive do what it takes games.
To be fair, when cuadrado has the ball, many of the players don’t move or try to find space which leaves cuadrado having to do the things we criticize him for. I say this repeatedly - too often we pass the ball where the player is, not where he should be. And when we do try to pass into space it’s via a long ball that gives enough time for opposing defenders to catch up. For the quality of players on the field we have, we have a tendency to play like a Sunday pick up team who is playing together for the first time
What a point was saved. I think the team showed a lot of balls, but man, we cannot be two down so easily. It has happened in 3 out of the last 4 games, only that Rueda was able to turn things around. Line by line, this is my analysis: Ospina: (9) MOTM, he kept us in the game when we could be down 3 or 4. Defense: (3) TERRIBLE. Mina and Sanchez don't look like top tier CBs, Tesillo is a fill in that offers almost nothing in attack, and Medina, while being decent in attack, is constantly overwhelmed by skilled players. Defensive midfield: (5) Rueda's biggest screw up, since neither Lerma, Cuellar or Uribe were up to task. Thank God for Barrios who should be the starter no matter what. Attacking midfield: (7) Diaz had a terrible day, but Cuadrado, while sometimes overdid his thing, was the offensive soul of the team and basically willed us to the draw. We are relying too much on him and another creative is badly needed. Hope James or Quintero are available in September. Strikers: (7) Zapata did what he could with limited touches but he was not the most accurate and missed Muriel. Muriel changed the game completely and Borja scored the tying goal. Subs: (8) So basically 2 out of 5 subs should be starters and it showed (Barrios, Muriel). Borja can still be a nice spark of the bench. Not so sold on Yairo, and how his entrance meant that JG4 was forced to be further back on the field, but he filled his role. Cardona was so pathetic, that he should be a sub for my Sunday pick up games. Rueda: (5) He threw in a terrible, almost panicked starting lineup that was quickly exploited by Argentina. At least he was able to make the correct substitutions and to talk the team into fighting for the draw.
100% agree I would just add that Uribe was involved with both goals. I didn’t understand why start with Uribe-Cuellar-Lerma. I wouldn’t mind testing that out in a friendly. Barrios-Cuellar or Barrios-Uribe would have been my preferred choice starters yesterday.
Yes I think the fact Medina and Tesillo are so bad is what makes that 3 man mf not work. argentina just attack us on the wings and made us pay
I am going to do a Milli Vanilli and say "Blame it on the rain." Colombia always seems to play like crap in the rain. But seriously Argentina made two beautiful goals that punched us in the face and gut at the start. We played ugly from the opening whistle and a lot of that was a 3 man DFM that most of us hate. The good is that Rueda made some adjustments and the team played a little better but Argentina was still dancing us with their good ball possession. And the Ref was absolutely atrocious buying all of their time wasting tactics and exaggerations. I called it though. I think Borja is going to be the Teo Barranquilla Super Star for us this cycle. He needs to get playing time every time we play there. All things considered we could have lost by 3 goals but found a way to draw. Time to focus on Copa America and see what we have in the benchers and role players. Hopefully the team can jell and can bond in Brazil.
Also , I am FAR from the biggest Cuadrado fan on this board but I have to say to me he played about as well as he could out there. I think he was the best player on the team yesterday and in Peru. Maybe it is because I had such low expectations for him but he has really impressed me. People complaining about his decision making or him keeping the ball too long I think are nitpicking a bit.