James Rodriguez’s second-half goal was all the offence Colombia needed to beat Canada 1-0 Tuesday night in an international friendly at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.
After Rodriguez was fouled, Colombia took a quick free kick before Canada’s defence could settle and the Real Madrid star struck a gorgeous 25-yard shot that sailed into the net past goalkeeper Milan Borjan in the 74th minute.
Here are my three quick thoughts on the game.
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1) Mis-match on paper, not in reality: This one had mis-match written all over it.
Colombia brought its “A team,” including James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao, while Canadian coach Benito Floro assembled an experimental side featuring veterans and several youngsters. Of note, Atiba Hutchinson couldn’t get released by his Turkish club for this friendly, leaving the Reds to play the mighty South Americans without their best attacking player.
But Canada, ranked No. 120 in the world, acquitted itself well against the third-ranked South Americans in the loss, and was far from played off the park. Borjan was called upon to make one great save—aside from that, he wasn’t kept busy, as Colombia struggled to break down Canada’s well-organized defence.
Centre back David Edgar was solid in quarterbacking the back line, and the defence was ably supported by Pedro Pacheco in midfield. For all of Colombia’s possession and dictating the pace of the game, the South American nation didn’t overwhelm Canada in the final third of the pitch.
A loss will always be disappointing, but this wasn’t about the result, it was about the performance. With Canada firmly in rebuild mode, Floro can take positives away from this contest, especially how his team thwarted the Colombians for the majority of the match. This is something the Spanish coach can build upon.
2) Ricketts keeps maturing: Tosaint Ricketts isn’t the most composed striker in front of goal—remember that glorious chance he wasted in Canada’s infamous 8-1 loss to Honduras? But his game has improved since the slaughter in San Pedro Sula. We saw evidence of that tonight.
The Edmonton native put in a workmanlike performance against the Colombians, acting as the first line of defence by efficiently and intelligently pressing the South Americans when in possession.
Ricketts tracked back countless times to lend support to Edgar and his defensive cohorts, and held up the ball nicely on a number of occasions before playing a teammate into an attacking position.
His link-up play aside, Ricketts also was directly involved in Canada’s best scoring chance early on in the contest when he latched onto a perfectly weighted long pass from Issey Nakajima-Farran and was knocked off the ball inside the box by Alexander Mejia. It was a clear penalty, but the referee waived play on.
3) Switching off: One moment. That’s all it took. One brief moment when Canada switched off, allowing Colombia the chance to exploit it—and they did.
With the game still deadlocked at 0-0, Rodriguez was fouled outside the penalty area. Teammate Juan Quintero noticed the Canadian players turn their attention to the referee and astutely played a quick, short pass off a quick free kick to Rodriguez before Canada could settle itself.
Rodriguez did the rest with his bending shot that sailed past Borjan in the Canadian net. One moment—that’s all Colombia needed, and it was enough to sink the Canadians.
The gap in talent between these two sides is wide, which means Canada has to be alert at all times, and can’t afford to lose its concentration or let its guard down for even the briefest of moments—it’s a lesson they learned the hard way against the Colombians.