Copa America: Cardona’s fabulous goal gives Colombia 1-0 victory over Ecuador

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A fabulous goal by Edwin Cardona gave Colombia the three points they needed on Sunday. They defeated Ecuador 1-0 in their Copa America debut. It was revenge for the 6-1 thrashing they suffered against La Tri in November last year.

It was at this Arena Pantanal in the Brazilian city of Cuiabá, where Colombia beat Japan 4-1 in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Colombian team played a rocky match, in which its rival was superior, especially in the second half, but still walked away with three points in the first day of Group B.

Intense pressure from Gustavo Alfaro’s team imposed its rhythm on the match making it difficult for Colombia to resort to long play to free up its defensive zone.

To overcome this, La Tri tried to work the flanks, mainly on the left, where in the first minutes Fidel Martinez was a headache for Daniel Munoz and allowing only two approaches of the team came there.

The first was a recovery by Michael Arroyo that ended with a shot that went over David Ospina’s goal. The second was an individual play by Martinez, who sent a low cross that forced the Colombian goalkeeper to do his best to prevent the ball from reaching Enner Valencia.

However, Ecuador lost clarity, and the strong play in the middle of the field began to prevail, especially against Juan Cuadrado, who looked besieged every time he received the ball in the opponent’s half.

Reinaldo Rueda’s team came closest to Pedro Ortiz’s goal for the first time in the 38th minute when Cardona crossed a free-kick to Yerry Mina, who anticipated his opponent but sent the ball over the horizontal.

However, the game broke down in the Colombian laboratory.

Cardona, facing the goal from a free kick in the 42nd minute, decided to make a one-two with Cuadrado, who filtered a ball that Miguel Borja headed into the area and left it back to the Boca Juniors midfielder, who without a second thought, lashed a right-footed shot without dropping the ball and set the Cafeteros celebrating.

In the second half, Ecuador again turned on the pressure to make Colombia uncomfortable and succeeded, taking advantage as Rueda’s team again made mistakes at the start. Despite this, Alfaro’s team did not know how to gain from those recoveries in the opponent’s field, and the ball did not reach Valencia, which did not weigh much in the game.

The truly outstanding defensive work of Wílmar Barrios was key for the Colombian team.

Just as happened with their rival in the first half, Ecuador’s chances came from set-pieces. In a free kick on the right side that Pervis Estupiñán took at 52 and which went over Ospina’s goal, who brushed the ball to have that extra peace of mind that it was not going to get into his goal.

However, as the minutes went by, the rigidity began to break down, and the teams began to leave spaces.

Alfaro’s team looked to do damage on the left, where Estupiñán made Cuadrado and Muñoz uncomfortable. In contrast, Rueda’s team chose to the counter-attack with Duván Zapata, whose receptions behind his back, added to Santos Borré’s movements, took the central defenders Robert Arboleda and Piero Hincapié out of place several times.

With the passing of the minutes, the wear and tear of the Ecuadorians began to show and they lost the momentum that kept them in the opponent’s territory for a good part of the second half.

Although Alfaro bet on Damián Díaz to try to break the impenetrable rival defense, Ecuador did not succeed. Despite the effort to improve the image it left in the 2019 edition when it was eliminated in the group stage, it was left with a bitter taste in its mouth in the continental tournament.

In its second game, Colombia will play Venezuela on Thursday at the Pedro Ludovico Teixeira Olympic Stadium in Goiania, while Ecuador will rest.

– Technical details:

Colombia: David Ospina; Daniel Muñoz, Yerry Mina, Óscar Murillo (m.80, Davinson Sánchez), Yairo Moreno (45+5, William Tesillo); Wilmar Barrios, Matheus Uribe (60, Sebastián Pérez), Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Edwin Cardona (80, Gustavo Cuéllar); Miguel Borja (60, Duván Zapata) and Rafael Santos Borré.

Coach: Reinaldo Rueda.

Ecuador: Pedro Ortiz; Ángelo Preciado, Robert Arboleda, Piero Hincapié, Pervis Estupiñán; Moisés Caicedo (79th minute, Damián Díaz), Jhegson Méndez, Gonzalo Plata (68t, Ayrton Preciado), Fidel Martínez (58, Ángel Mena); Michael Estrada (68, Jordy Caicedo) and Enner Valencia.

Coach: Gustavo Alfaro.

Goal: 1-0, minute 42: Edwin Cardona.

Referee: Argentina’s Néstor Pitana.

Incidents: The match was played at the Arena Pantanal stadium in Cuiaba without public.