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Karolos Grohmann
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Colombia, who face England in the Round of 16 World Cup, might not be a major force like Brazil or Argentina in South American football, but the selection "coffee maker" has scored more than the two rivals in the last two editions of the World Cup, even playing less matches.
Many English fans were celebrating, despite losing 1-0 to Belgium in the last group-stage game that determined the octave play against the Colombians, as the road to the final seems a little easier.
The English could face Sweden or Switzerland in a possible quarter-final, while Belgium could face Brazil, France or Argentina on the other key.
But an badysis of Colombia's matches in this World Cup and in the 2014 edition in Brazil reveals that they were more effective than the Brazilians and Argentines, although playing fewer matches.
Led by top players like James Rodríguez and Juan Cuadrado, but without striker Radamel Falcao Garcia in 2014, Colombia scored 12 goals in five World Cup matches in Brazil, reaching quarter-finals. final.
The Brazilian national team, semifinalist and host of the tournament, scored one goal less, playing even two more games than the Colombians in the tournament. Argentina, which lost the 2014 final against Germany, scored even fewer goals in seven games in Brazil.
The story is similar in this edition of the World Cup in Russia where the Falcão, this time, even had irregular performances, but scored more times than Argentina and the same number of times as Brazil.
Messi's Argentina narrowly missed the knockout phase of the tournament with a late goal against Nigeria, their last in the group stage. Brazil scored five times in Group E, including twice as long to beat Costa Rica.
Colombia reached the eighth goal, scoring five goals in the group's three games, supported by tens of thousands of supporters.
"It will be a brilliant match for me," said England coach Gareth Southgate. "It seemed like Colombia had 30 or 40,000 fans in the stadium, I went to two of their matches in Brazil, it was incredible moments."
"They have excellent players, some particularly attacking," he said. "But we also have very good players who believe and expect the challenge."
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