So these subs seems to show that Queiroz is sticking with 433 no matter what. Which makes not choosing any wingers to replace who we lost interesting. Although, being up 3-0 means you can get away with having a 9 playing on one side and a lb at the other wing.
Ref decided to end it 30 seconds early despite it being a corner for us. Whatever 3 points in the bag. Hoping for a good result against Chile.
Yay! We had the game under control 2nd half. Would have liked us to get a 4th just to pad goal difference, but we were smart to sub cuadrado and James when we did. Happy for Muriel - he really needed these two goals. This will light a fire under Díaz as well once he comes back.
Good start to the campaign, we never had to get out of first gear and second half was great for us, we preserved our energy and the game was easy and slow which really should benefit our legs against Chile. I think the second half subs were spot on with our roster, get Cuadrado, James, Muriel and Zapata off early and ready to fire in the next game. More goals would have been nice but being smart tactically and killing the game and putting an eye on Chile is the sign of a mature team.
Great result. This is a team that has never started together before so it is even more impressive. People like to bash Lerma but he did his part and had a wicked shot from outside the box that was unlucky to go in. I had a hunch Queiroz would try Fabra as a Left wing instead of a LB. That is probably why he did not call another offensive player. As I have been saying for months now Duvan, Muriel and James are so hot right now they will be the difference. Hopefully they keep up their great form. On to Chile. We have confidence and we want payback for the Copa.
These were Muriel's first official goals right? What a way to put himself on the scoreboard in official matches. I was thinking just wait until we get the youngsters Diaz and Sinisterra more integrated into this system. The future may look very bright offensively if they can adapt too.
Brazil wrecking Bolivia as expected 4-0 with an OG going in their favor. Seems like only we and Brazil managed to really have a dominating home opener in the qualifiers.
We are going to need the other guys to adapt and be options - Muriel is not a 90 minute guy so he’s always a shoe in to be subbed out.
Dominating performance. Excellent to see Colombia play simple and ruthless on those counters - nothing over complicated, just putting the ball into space and taking advantage of athleticism. Vargas - 7 - Key saves just before Muriel's second to keep the sheet clean and what a toss into space for the third. Arias - NA - bless his heart. Mina - 8 - Won every ball in the air. He looks so confident in yellow. Sanchez - 6 - Not challenged much. Medina - 6 - Not challenged much either but had a couple of nice slide tackles and recoveries to end opposition attacks when called upon. Mojica - 7 - Looks to be in tremendous shape. Bullied them on his side, great stamina and presence of mind to play it simple on his assist. Barrios -8 - the best 5 in the hemisphere. So solid tackling and efficient with the ball. Looks more and more comfortable. Lerma -7- solid game. Like Mojica just a great athlete and able to win 50/50 or frame his body to deliver the tactical foul without earning attention for cards. Disrupted them everywhere. Liked that he didn't linger on the ball, only one or two touches and it's out. C4 - 7 - Showed his class, amazing ball to Zapata. Inch perfect. James - 7 - Pushed the team fwd and loved his ball to release C4 on Zapata's goal. Thought he could have had one himself but Morelos passed it elsewhere. In great form and never looked harried. Muriel - 9 - Looked like the player we dreamed of when he was 19. Atalanta coaches have done such a great job with him. The second goal was top stuff. Toro - 8 - I am so proud of how this guy has honed his craft. He is so strong with a defender on his back and brings others into play with him. Classic 9s goal and could have had a few more. Morelos - 5 - only guy who looked nervous out there for us...lost his head a few times. Put in a shift getting back to defend though. Alzate - 7 - looked much more balanced than I expected. Some nice through balls, played fast and his corner was dangerous too. Very impressive. Fabra - 6 - Didn't impact much because we were just walking around by time he came on but nice to see him yellow again. Falcao - 6 - Is gonna see that kick right to the keeper every time he closes his eyes, but what a move to create the space for it! Queiroz - 8 - Bonus points for fooling everyone into thinking he would start Falcao and then doing the right thing to pair the Atalanta guys together. Smart to play the three of those guys together. He did the right thing with Arias too,IMHO. I wish we had had more wings to bring on, but this worked out exactly as he drew it up.
I would give Medina an 8; he was very good defending and gave a very solid performance given that he had to replace Arias in the matter that he did so early. He played like a starter and even the announcers wouldn't stop praising him.
Glad Medina started most of this cycle cause Arias may be out for a while. We need someone comfortable within the tactics.
I feel happy for Vargas. He came up huge with some nice saves for the cameras. Morelos. Well, I did not want to say a bad thing about him cause people think I rag on the kid all the time. But you basically said what I was thinking.
Agreed with most, but this was the first game I was more impressed with Lerma than Barrios. The latter had more tackles and many more passes, but Lerma was covering every blade of grass. His pressing the first half was important.
Would have liked to see Cantillo get some minutes since he's not been around much, but might also just need time to get used to the team/system. Lerma although I don't think he's ideal in a game like this you know what you're going to get, he works hard defends well and is actually better playing with a guy like Barrios then in that position himself. I think playing the way CQ has set us up makes us a lot harder to beat with our counter attacking and ability to draw teams out then punish them, having Muriel, Duvan, James and Cuadrado all fit and playing well is also a key. This team and tactical set up will make us difficult to play against for all the top teams in the world, it may not be as pretty from time to time but getting the roles and style down will give us a better chance to be competitive against the Brazil's, Frances and other good teams we'll have to beat to get to the glory land.
He was fine. I didn't think he did anything outstanding or beyond what Santi would have done but he was solid. If he plays like that in Chile with their frenetic style it will be welcome.
haha first I want to say screw all of you because I am going to complain we went up 3-0 1st half then stopped playing completely I am glad we didn't get any more injuries and man it sucks to lose Arias. My worry is after 30-40 minutes all our guys were gassed. Venezuela didn't have much but against Chile next week without Ospina.... We can't have less possession and then only want to play half the match. Or will get wrecked
We slowed it down and had a kick around so that C4, James, Muriel and Zapata could rest for Santiago. I had opposite view entirely, that was class.
We didn't get gassed lol. The game was completely under control and that was the right approach. Conserve the energy vs Chile