CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The hallmark of a championship team is the ability to win games in a variety of ways and circumstances. Heading into Wednesday's semifinal against Uruguay, Colombia has done things its own way in the Copa America, scoring goals for fun and winning three of its four games, with the only blemish — if you can call it that — a draw with Brazil.
But in Wednesday's match, Colombia had to call up all of its reserves. The Coffee Growers The team played more than half of the match with 10 men after Daniel Muñoz received a second yellow card in added time in the first half, but they were able to take advantage of James Rodríguez's brilliance in set pieces, a defense on edge and yes, also a bit of luck to win 1-0 and secure a place in their third Cup final in their history.
“I think it's a team that is giving everything and beyond the circumstances of the match, they really deserve it and we are very happy,” said Colombian coach Néstor Lorenzo, with the help of a translator. “We are very happy to give the Colombian people something to cheer about.”
Uruguay are a team that love to push teams, literally sometimes, out of their comfort zone, pressing all over the field in a bid to achieve maximum chaos. After a slow start, The light blue It looked like that was what the team was doing, as Darwin Núñez came close to scoring twice. However, Jefferson Lerma's goal put Colombia ahead just before the break. But then Muñoz's reckless elbow to Manuel Ugarte's chest (especially in the era of VAR) earned him a second booking and a one-man advantage for Uruguay.
“One of the main things we discussed was that we never want to go down to one man,” Lorenzo said. “It's almost impossible to maintain performance with 10 players on the field. Teams that dominated their opponents, when they went down to one man, were eliminated from the tournament.”
Colombia proved to be the exception, with Lorenzo maximizing his bench and the team going beyond what was thought possible.
“We always talk about multiplying efforts. Sometimes 10 players can make the effort of 12 players,” Lorenzo said.
For Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa, the sending off was the ultimate poisoned gift. Instead of being able to take advantage of turnovers and create opportunities in transition, Uruguay was faced with the prospect of trying to upset the balance of a Colombian team that was increasingly content to sit back and defend. The chaos became predictable.
1:53
Nunes: Post-match scrum was an unfortunate ending to Uruguay-Colombia match
Alexis Nunes reports on why Darwin Nunez and other Uruguay players entered the stands while fans were fighting after the match.
“I would have preferred to avoid the Colombian player being sent off for what happened in the second half. The way Colombia had to play to maintain the situation with one less man created bigger challenges than we had when they had 11.”
It helped Colombia's cause that another moment of magic from Rodriguez would have helped The Coffee Growers Uruguay's Lorenzo took the lead from a corner kick that allowed Lerma to score the only goal of the match. It was Rodriguez's sixth assist of the tournament, a record, and he continued his stellar run in this Copa America. But for Lorenzo, there were 14 other heroes.
“I think it's a group that wants to be the protagonist of this tournament. They want to win,” he said. “They are very hungry as players and have a lot of desire and they really bring a lot of elements to the game beyond the tactical aspect. I think we are at a crucial moment and we also see that there are some weaknesses that we need to overcome. And until you overcome them, you can't grow. And when you overcome those obstacles, you can evolve. So I think we are doing very well and yes, we are moving forward.”
Rodriguez's performance was in stark contrast to that of another legendary player, Uruguayan Luis Suarez. Bielsa brought on Suarez with 23 minutes remaining in an attempt to find the elusive goal that would take the game to penalties. Suarez also had his chances. He had a goal-scoring opportunity in the 72nd minute, but the ball crashed off the outside of the post. He had a chance to create danger two minutes later, but his touch went over the byline when he had considerable space in the area.
It was one of many situations in which Lorenzo outdid Bielsa. For a while, the Colombian coach continued to play with two forwards after Muñoz was sent off, before resorting to a five-man backline as Colombia began to tire. Lorenzo's team came closest to scoring, but substitute Mateus Uribe squandered a couple of clear-cut chances in the final minutes. It didn't matter. Colombia survived. As for Lorenzo, he refused to see the game as a coaching contest.
“I think that to beat Bielsa you have to walk many kilometres,” he said. “He is a very respected coach and I admire him a lot as a person, and we had to win.”
If there was one thing that marred the match, it was the post-match brawl, in which several Uruguayan players came out into the stands to fight with Colombian fans after feeling that their families were in danger. The apparent lack of sufficient security will surely go down in history as another example of CONMEBOL's poor organisation of the tournament. The image of Núñez comforting his son will be one of the most enduring images of the tournament.
Darwin comforting one of his sons after he himself had to go fight with the Colombian fans because there was no security and take his family to the field.#Uruguay #Colombia #America Cup image.twitter.com/lSAtaq9IbQ
— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) July 11, 2024
Now Lorenzo, an Argentine, will face the country of his birth in the final. He said his friends have been talking about the possibility. But Lorenzo has long been putting down Colombian roots. He was an assistant for the Colombian national team for seven years under José Pekerman during one of the stops they both made together, and has been in charge of the senior team since 2022.
“I think it will be a very nice moment,” he said of Sunday's final. “I'll be alongside players I've known throughout my career and who I admire a lot.”
As for the team itself, this is new ground to some extent. The Coffee Growers Colombia have just one Copa America title to their name, since 2001, and were runners-up on one other occasion, in 1975. The semi-finals, however, have been a veritable graveyard. Seven times before, Colombia have fallen in that round, including three years ago, when Argentina beat them on penalties on their way to the title. At last, the curse of the semi-finals has been overcome. There is just one more hurdle to overcome.
“Colombia has always played to win. Anything can happen,” Lorenzo said. “Argentina is the best team in the world, champion of America, intercontinental champion, world champion. But we are going to try.”
