Well, that was a rather peculiar way to spend a Thursday evening. Colombia and Portugal served up a 0. 0 draw in what can only be described as a game...
Well, that was a rather peculiar way to spend a Thursday evening. Colombia and Portugal served up a 0. 0 draw in what can only be described as a game that was as forgettable as the weather must have been inside that stadium. From the kick off, the tone was set by a moment of silence for the victims of the Venezuelan earthquake, a gesture of respect that was sadly drowned out by a crowd that simply refused to shut up. It is a damning indictment of modern supporter culture when you cannot observe fifteen seconds of quiet. Our American cousins might manage a full minute, apparently, but here we were treated to the sound of chatter over the dead. Squalid.On the pitch, the football was not much better. Portugal, wearing a rather fetching red kit, seemed to have been instructed to sit deep and hit on the break. The problem, as ever with these setups, is that you need a forward willing to run the channels and a midfield capable of threading the needle. Neither materialised. Colombia, in their familiar yellow, tried to dominate possession but they lacked any real incision. There was no trigger, no moment where a full back overlapped with genuine menace. It was sideways passing across the halfway line, a slow death by patience that never actually killed anyone.This was a classic example of two sides cancelling each other out through cautious conservatism rather than tactical brilliance. Both managers will point to the clean sheet and call it a point gained, but do me a favour. In a tournament where you need to build momentum, these are the kind of performances that come back to bite you in the knockout stages. You cannot flick a switch and suddenly find clinical finishing if you have spent eighty minutes passing the ball around the centre circle. The game cried out for a spark, a piece of individual brilliance or a moment of madness. We got neither.Perhaps the most telling image of the night was the fans themselves. They had paid their money, they had turned up, and yet they treated the solemn tribute as an inconvenience. It leaves a sour taste, does it not This is supposed to be a World Cup, a celebration of the beautiful game and the human spirit. What we got instead was a shallow cacophony and a football match that felt like it was playing itself. Credit to the GoalZaza live blog team who endured it, but for the neutral, this was an hour and a half of your life you are not getting back.Let us hope this is a one off blip. Both sides have quality in their ranks. Portugal especially need to find a way to impose themselves on the game rather than waiting for the opposition to make a mistake. And Colombia They must learn to finish the chances they create. Because on this evidence, the third place playoff looks a long, long way off. Honestly, if this is the standard of fare, spare me the third jerseys and give us some actual football.
