After a tame, quiet first half, all hell broke loose in the second as Colombia and Ivory Coast clashed in a wide-open affair that saw the South Americans take a 2-1 victory. With the win, Colombia now only need a loss or draw by Japan tonight to advance to the knockout stage.
Viewers around the world saw Ivory Coast’s Serey Die get very emotional during his team’s national anthem prior to the match kicking off.
Shortly after, we found out why:
Respect to Serey Die. His father reportedly died just two hours before this game #CIV pic.twitter.com/A5Z2Kfmnv8
Colombia fielded the same exact starting XI as came out against Greece, and why not? They were very impressive in their 3-0 win over Greece, and expected the same result against an Ivory Coast team that had to rally to beat Japan in their opening match. The Ivorians declined to insert Didier Drogba into the first XI despite his huge impact in their first game, likely based on the fact that at 36 years old he likely can’t go 90 minutes anymore.
Colombia held the better of the play for the first 30 minutes, with dangerous crosses coming in from the flanks for the majority of the half. Ivory Coast were up to the task, however, making numerous last-ditch clearances to avoid allowing Colombia to seriously threaten their goal.
Colombia's struggles in the final third were probably best represented by this Teófilo Gutiérrez miss:
Ivory Coast began to find their footing after the miss, with Serge Aurier forcing a good save out of Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina in the 32nd minute. The teams continued to battle back and forth throughout the remainder of the first half, but were unable to find any goals in it as they went into the break stuck in a 0-0 deadlock.
The second half opened with 15 very wide-open minutes, but again both teams were unable to finish in the most dangerous of positions. Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Bony had perhaps his team’s best chance, but made a meal of a lovely cross from Yaya Toure and went for something spectacular rather than a more simple finish:
Moments later, Colombia charged down the other way and rattled the crossbar on a brilliant 1 vs. 1 move and shot by Juan Cuadrado that was tipped just enough by Ivorian goalkeeper Boubacar Barry:
At the hour mark, Drogba made his eagerly-awaited debut, but unfortunately it had the opposite effect. In the 64th minute, James Rodriguez beat Drogba to the ball and opened the scoring on a brilliant header off a corner kick:
And, of course, Colombia followed with a spectacularly coordinated dance celebration:
They say the first 10 minutes after the first goal are the most dangerous, and that certainly proved true for Ivory Coast. After the Elephants made a nice effort to push for the equalizer, a poor turnover led to a vicious Colombian counterattack that led to a tidy 70th minute finish by substitute Juan Quintero:
It looked like Ivory Coast were in deep trouble, but at the bleakest moment, they were rescued by one of their stars. In the 73rd minute, Gervinho split two defenders, juked another, then smoked a shot near post that beat Ospina and cut the Elephants’ deficit in half:
Ivory Coast continued to press for an equalizer, and Colombia too remained aggressive in their counterattack. The Colombians seem to know only one speed and style with which to play, which leads to a wide open match but could cause them some issues in the later rounds. It did not cost them here, and despite some nervous moments they managed to hold on for the win.
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