Match date: 28 June 2014

Colombia came into the tournament as a good side boasting attacking talent, despite the absence of Falcao, and have shown their abilities so far in the World Cup, having won their group with relative ease. Their inspiration has come from James Rodriguez, who at just 22, wears the number 10 for his country and has scored goals for fun so far.

Uruguay’s biggest story of the World Cup is the lose of Luis Suarez. He was able to carry them beyond England before Diego Godin came up with another big game header against Italy, as he did in the last game in La Liga against Barcelona to win Atletico the title and in the Champions League final, to see his side into the round of 16.

4-3-3ish v 3-5-2

Colombia were in something of a 4-3-3, though their actual formation changed throughout the match with the fluid movement of James Rodriguez as he tried to find spaces and Jackson Martinez’s want to play in a more central role alongside Gutierrez.

Against Uruguay’s 3-5-2, with was usually more of a 5-3-2 because of how deep Uruguay were playing, Colombia were able to exploit the lack of cover for the Uruguay wing backs with quick switches of play and the forward play of Pablo Armero and Juan Zuniga. Both have played at Napoli in a wing back position at some point, which means they have an attacking mindset, which aided in Colombia’s ability to get forward and unbalance Uruguay’s back line.

This width became more important as Colombia began to dominate and as Uruguay reacted by sitting in a low block, absorbing pressure, before looking to counter quickly. Colombia’s second goal was an excellent example of their use of the width and their ability to switch the ball quickly to exploit the space as Uruguay’s back line shifted. The whole move was quite good. Jackson Martinez had moved across the line as a centre forward and received the ball from the right. James Rodriguez moved towards the penalty area, drawing the attention of Maxi Pereira, which allowed the left side of the pitch to open for Pablo Armero, who delivered a cross to the back post. Cuadrado headed it down into James’ path, who had a simple tap in compared to his first goal. Below, you can see the space open for Armero.

James Rodriguez

He was the youngest player to win the top player award in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, but up until now has still only been a player with a huge amount of potential rather than a world class player, but on the form that he has shown in the World Cup, it seems all of his potential is coming through. He now leads the World Cup as the top goal scorer and has scored some incredible strikes, while propelling Colombia to a relatively easy appearance in the quarterfinals. He was arguably the best player in the group stages, overshadowing most of the world’s best players.

Pekerman has used him well throughout the tournament, which has been a key to James’ success thus far. In this particular match, perhaps having watched Uruguay play England, Pekerman altered James’ play a bit, making his movement more fluid. Against England, Uruguay marked Wayne Rooney, who was playing in a number 10 role, with Arevalo Rios. Rooney struggled for the most of the first half to find space, eventually understanding that he needed to drift from the middle to get on the ball. It took James significantly less time to do so. He drifted wide, he dropped deep into midfield near Colombia’s holding midfielders, and he understood how to use any space he was given well.

His first goal was an example of finding space between the lines when a team is defending in a low block, but also a terrible example of defense by Uruguay, who allowed Colombia’s most dangerous player to stand in the space between the lines for over 20 seconds, unmarked. Below, you can see James standing alone in front of the defense. Rios is the Uruguay player in front of him, but has no idea where the Colombian number 10 is. At this point, it would be harsh to criticise Uruguay too much because there are two defenders between the ball and James, but he doesn’t receive the ball for at least another 15 seconds and that is after Colombia attempt to play the ball in beyond James.

His technique and vision for the goal were brilliant. Right before the goal, you could see him take a look behind him to see if there was an Uruguayan defender that could come close him down quickly and then to have the the ability to receive the ball on his chest in a half turn and volley was incredible.

Forlan, No Suarez

The biggest struggle for Uruguay was the lack of Luis Suarez. In the match against England, he showed that he could separate sides with his abilities. While Colombia are a better side than Uruguay, Suarez would have certainly given Colombia more issues, especially against someone like Yepes who, at 38, would have struggled with Suarez’s movement.

Forlan had a poor game earlier in the tournament against Costa Rica in the opening game for Uruguay and it was a surprise, even with the absence of Suarez, that he made the starting XI over Stuani. Forlan had an absolutely terrific World Cup in 2010, winning the Golden Ball, but he was 31 then, arguably the last year of his prime. At 35, he looked unable to keep up with the game and struggled with the rest of the team to get involved.

Changes

Tabarez made two quick changes after Colombia’s second goal, replacing Forlan with Stuani and Alvaro Pereira with Gaston Ramirez, with changed Uruguay’s shape into a 4-3-3ish shape. Stuani played as the central striker with Abel Hernandez on his right, who came on for Gonzalez in the 67th minute, and Cavani on his left. While Uruguay had some chances, they never really looked to bother the Colombian back line.

Pekerman used all three substitutions as well, bringing on Megia for Gutierrez, Guarin for Cuadrado, and Ramos for Rodriguez. All were in response to Uruguay’s growing pressure and were effective in helping Colombia see the game out.

Conclusion

Colombia continue to put away teams with relative ease. The 2-0 scoreline may not reflect the state of the game that well, but Colombia were able to dominate large portions of the match. They haven’t faced a side where they wouldn’t have been considered ‘favourites’ or at least evenly matched, but their next game is against Brazil and it will be interesting to see if they can cope with such an open game if they allowed Zuniga and Armero to push as high as they did in this match.

Uruguay exit the tournament with Luis Suarez as the headline, unfortunately for the other players. It is hard to say whether his inclusion in the match would have pushed Uruguay on, but that fact that he wasn’t in the team seemed to take something out of them. They not only lost their best player, but lost their focus as they looked to defend him.