World Cup: Colombia 3-0 Poland, Japan 2-2 Senegal

Four years after Radamel Falcao was supposed to lead Colombia at the World Cup, he’s doing just that.
Falcao missed the tournament in Brazil with a knee injury and had to wait until arriving in Russia to score his first World Cup goal. It came in Colombia’s 3-0 victory over Poland on Sunday.
“It’s a dream goal,” Falcao said. “I’m happy for the victory, for the team’s performance and the goal that I scored, which I’ve been waiting for for many years.”
The victory kept Colombia in the running for a spot in the round of 16 and knocked out Poland, the first European country to be eliminated.
Falcao, Colombia’s all-time leading scorer with 30 goals, made sure he would stay healthy for this year’s World Cup by sitting out several matches with his Monaco club this season.
So far, so good.
“We always hope that he can score and hope that he can be fit as he was today, and we want to help him,” Colombia coach Jose Pekerman said. “I think the fact that he scored was very important, not just for today but for the matches to come.
“He is a symbol of the national team. He is a symbol of Colombian football.”
Playing some scintillating soccer in Kazan, Falcao scored with the outside of his foot in the 70th minute after a superb pass from playmaker Juan Quintero in the back of the defense.
Yerry Mina scored the first goal in the 40th and Juan Cuadrado completed the win in the 75th.

Both teams lost their Group H openers and knew another loss would end their hopes of advancing. Colombia will next face Senegal on Thursday in Samara with a chance to win the group, while Poland will play Japan in Volgograd.
Senegal and Japan drew 2-2 earlier Sunday and lead the group with four points each.
Mina out-jumped the Poland defense to head in the opening goal from James Rodriguez’s cross, rewarding a spell of domination by the Colombians.
Rodriguez’s through ball after Poland lost possession in midfield led to the final goal. Cuadrado collected the pass and rushed toward the box, timing his shot perfectly to beat goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Poland got off to an aggressive start in the hot and humid Tatarstan capital, pressing high and winning most of the duels in the opening minutes.

Colombia gradually settled in, though, with Quintero providing attacking width and Cuadrado proving dangerous with his subtle moves on the edge of the box.
Colombia slowed the pace in the second half, showing good counterattacking qualities. Quintero came close in the 56th minute on the break, but his goal-bound shot took a deflection.
Cut off from the rest of his teammates, Robert Lewandowski had a few attempts but could not convert his rare chances.
Colombia is still alive ahead of its final match against Senegal and can still win the group, while Poland can only hurt Japan’s chances of advancement.
Given his first start after fully recovering from a calf injury, Rodriguez lived up to expectations. He pressed relentlessly, tracked back and delivered an assist for Mina.
Rodriguez has now been directly involved in nine goals in seven World Cup appearances for Colombia, scoring six and assisting on three. He formed an excellent partnership with Quintero to create some beautiful play for Colombia.
Besides scoring, Mina was also excellent in containing Lewandowski throughout the match.
Poland played well for 15 minutes but then faded.
The team was overwhelmed in midfield and looked clueless in attack in another error-ridden display that resulted in an early exit.

Poland has now failed to keep a clean sheet in its last 10 World Cup matches, since beating Portugal 1-0 in 1986.
“The Colombian team was a much better team,” Poland coach Adam Nawalka said.
Meanwhile, Japan and Senegal drew 2-2 in an entertaining affair in Ekaterinburg, leaving the door open for Poland and Colombia to make up ground on their Group H opponents later on Sunday.
Both sides were coming off the back of surprising victories in their opening games, with Japan dispatching Colombia and Senegal defeating Poland last week.
​Senegal earned praise after their win over Poland in their first match for their structural organisation and discipline and the Lions of Teranga began this match in a similar fashion, with much of the early play taking place in Japan’s half.
Much of Senegal’s threat came from the explosive pace of Sadio Mane and M’Baye Niang and the former was rewarded for his hard work in the 11th minute through a stroke of good fortune that saw Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima parry a shot off the Liverpool winger and into the net.
Japan looked devoid of attacking options early on but grew into the game as Senegal seemed to take their foot off the gas but still the Samurai Blue struggled to find a way in – until a lovely piece of play in the 34th minute suddenly saw them draw level.
Left-back Yuto Nagatomo made an excellent run into Senegal’s box to get to the end of a long pass and, despite his heavy first touch, managed to tee the ball up for Takashi Inui to swivel and curl a shot past Khadim N’Diaye.
With the scores level once again, both sides seemed to retreat into themselves with both looking somewhat afraid to send men forward and push for a goal. With virtually no chances of note following Inui’s equaliser, the first half ended up rather fizzling to its conclusion.
In contrast to the first half, Japan began the second with the more attacking intent of the two sides. Although the opening 15 minutes of the half were a rather cagey affair, Japan came close around the hour mark when Gaku Shibasaki’s ball across goal had to be scrambled away by the Senegalese defence.
With Japan beginning to take a firm hold on the game, it seemed only one side would break the deadlock and Inui came close to scoring a fabulous second goal when his effort from distance crashed off the bar.
Yet despite Japan’s dominance, Senegal stood firm and got their reward for withstanding the pressure when a ball across the area fell to Moussa Wague and the full-back blasted it high into the back of the net to score his first ever international goal.

But Japan were not content to leave things there and pulled level for the second time in the 78th minute when N’Diaye flapped at a cross and Keisuke Honda, who had only just come on as a substitute, was able to stay calm in order to finish in front of an empty net.
Though both sides continued to push for an equaliser, neither could land the killing blow and a draw was probably the fair result for both sides.
This result leaves Japan on Senegal on four points apiece in Group H. Poland and Colombia meet later on Sunday, meaning one of those two sides can be eliminated if there is a victor in that game.
*Culled from MSN