Not the favorites to win the World Cup, but it’s hard to deny that Colombia have been the most impressive team in the tournament so far, picking up a fourth win, this time beating Uruguay 2-0 to make it into the quarterfinals while leaving a terrible Uruguay side behind with James Rodriguez scoring twice, including the best goal of the tournament so far, now leading the scoring charts.
Some say a star is born, but Rodriguez has been one of the hottest young talent in Europe for the last two or three seasons. It wasn’t a complete performance from Colombia, dominating in stretches and especially in the first half before falling back to allow a slow and dull Uruguay side that simply isn’t much without Luis Suarez playing, and only looked better because Colombia allowed them some control, and Diego Forlan left the pitch.
Rodriguez scored a beautiful goal in the 28th minutes after the first half hour showed us one team only looking to make it out of this match without conceding too much, while the other was looking to win and decide it early. He dropped the ball on his chest, turned to his right and sent a rocket of a shot from about 23 meters out to stun Muslera and give Colombia the lead they deserved before falling back and passing time until the first half ended.
Colombia finished the match in the 50th minute, Pablo Armero crossed from the left to Juan Cuadrado, dropping the ball with his head to Rodriguez, left completely alone in front of an open goal, with Muslera left out of position and out of options to help.
Uruguay got their chances later in the match, testing David Ospina from long range but never really getting close to scoring. Uruguay players showed their frustration with some cheap and dirty fouls before berating the referee for daring to call them for their fouls, although it resulted with only just one booking, holding back from temptation of creating too much turbulence in a match that wasn’t fair right from the start.
The South American day of the round of 16 ends with Brazil and Colombia meeting in the quarterfinals. It’s hard to go against Brazil in a tournament they’re hosting or ever, but so far, Colombia have been the best team in the tournament.