Real Madrid loanee to Bayern Munich James Rodriguez had a stellar performance against Poland in round two of the group stage.
Colombia played their second match of the 2018 World Cup group stage against Poland. La Tricolor had a masterful performance against their Polish counterparts scoring three beautiful goals. The Madrid loanee helped his team to three points providing two assists. Radamel Falcao also scored his first goal in a World Cup.
Colombia picked up three crucial points in the second round keeping their hopes of advancement alive. An all-around strong outing by the Colombians ensured that the side would not head home early.
Colombia came alive against Poland, a performance that was reminiscent of what was seen in the 2014 World Cup in Br azil. Possession was slightly in Colombia’s favor as they had the ball 55% of the time. While the possessions stats were fairly close Colombia dominated in most of the other categories.
James’ side had nearly 100 passes more than Poland and twice as many crosses. As a result of the excellent ball movement, they outshot their opponents 13-9. Both teams played their attacks through their respective right side of the pitch with Poland sitting deeper on average having to defend more of the play.
Both teams would make use of all their of their options to substitute but Poland would be the only side to be shown a yellow card. Colombia would be on the front foot from the start of the first half, wheeling and dealing through Poland’s defense. For most of the match, Poland struggled to keep up and score a goal of their own.
The first goal would come just five minutes before the half-time whistle, a great reward for the Colombians hard work. The second-half would be much busier than the earlier stanza, with both yellow-cards being shown, two goals and five substitutions.
In the 70th-minute Radamel Falcao would score his first ever goal in a World Cup, quite a surprising stat given his prowess in front of the net. Fifteen minutes later Juan Cuadrado would score the final goal of the game from a quick counter.