James Rodriguez, take a bow!
Colombia rounded off the first day of the Round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Uruguay, both goals coming courtesy of 22-year-old AS Monaco sensation James Rodriguez. The two goals, his fourth and fifth of the tournament, were enough to propel Colombia past Uruguay to face Brazil in the quarterfinals next week.
Uruguay’s poor – dare I say toothless – offense couldn’t break down the Colombian back line, even though Edison Cavani was as mobile as ever up top. The absence of Luis Suarez, banned for nine international matches and four months of football in general, was abundantly clear; Uruguay needed Suarez, and he just wasn’t available.
Rodriguez opened the scoring in the first half with a sublime goal, perhaps the best of the tournament. He chest-controlled a high ball downward towards his foot, turned and struck the ball from far out in one fluid motion. The ball dipped when it counted, smacked the underside of the crossbar and down into the net, giving Colombia an opening goal to build from.
But that wouldn’t be all for Rodriguez, who scored once more after Juan Cuadrado guided the ball past Uruguay ‘keeper Fernando Muslera with an assist which Rodriguez simply tapped in. The second goal puts Rodriguez in first place for the Golden Boot race with five goals, one more than Neymar, Lionel Messi and Thomas Muller, all of whom have four to their name.
So, with that, Uruguay exits the World Cup with a significant loss and a damaged reputation, failing to live up to the bill they built up for themselves after a successful 2010 World Cup campaign. Uruguay made the semi-finals in that tournament but are eliminated early in this tournament, but will still be pleased to escape a group that featured England, Italy and Chile.
Meanwhile, Colombia continue to create added hype despite being without their best player, Falcao. In his absence, Rodriguez, Cuadrado, Teo Gutierrez and Jackson Martinez have more than filled in for the big target man.
This is the furthest Colombia has ever gone in a World Cup, but Brazil now await in the quarterfinal. That game will be this South American side’s biggest test to date.
