Daniel Munoz, Luis Diaz and Jaminton Campaz goals helped Colombia open their World Cup Group K campaign with 3-1 victory over tournament debutants Uzbekistan at the Estadio Azteca on Wednesday.
Uzbekistan stayed disciplined for much of the match under coach Fabio Cannavaro, but Colombia’s class eventually made the difference in front of more than 80,000 fans on a cool, rainy evening.
Colombia, runners-up at the Copa America, started brightly and created early chances through Jhon Arias and James Rodriguez. However, Uzbekistan defended deep, worked hard and looked to take advantage of any mistakes.
They nearly did just that when Bekhruz Karimov burst forward on a counterattack, but Colombian defender Jhon Lucumi made a crucial intervention before he could get a shot away.
Luis Diaz had Colombia’s best chance of the first half when he struck the post. Soon after, Uzbekistan defender Abdukodir Khusanov slid in to challenge Diaz after the winger had pushed the ball past him. The collision took out both Diaz and a pitchside cameraman, who needed medical attention.
Uzbekistan’s resistance was finally broken in the 40th minute.
After a Colombian attack initially broke down, Diaz picked up the ball and delivered a clever pass into the path of Daniel Munoz, who calmly finished to score his third international goal.
Uzbekistan came out stronger after half-time and made history on the hour mark by scoring the country’s first-ever World Cup goal.
Dostonbek Khamdamov played a pass to Eldor Shomurodov, whose shot was saved by goalkeeper Camilo Vargas. However, Vargas could not hold onto the ball and Abbosbek Fayzullaev was quickest to react, heading home the rebound from close range.
The celebrations did not last long.
Just five minutes later, Gustavo Puerta released Diaz with a perfectly timed pass and the Liverpool forward calmly slotted the ball across goal to restore Colombia’s lead.
To their credit, Uzbekistan kept fighting until the end.
Akmal Mozgovoy narrowly missed the target in stoppage time, Karimov struck the crossbar with a powerful long-range effort and Azizbek Amonov had a shot blocked after being set up by Otabek Shukurov.
But Colombia had the final say. Deep into stoppage time, Jaminton Campaz scored to seal the victory and cap a strong performance from Nestor Lorenzo’s side, who finished with 15 shots compared to Uzbekistan’s nine.
The match also marked a special milestone for Cannavaro. Twenty years after lifting the World Cup as Italy captain, he became only the fourth Ballon d’Or winner to appear at a World Cup as both a player and a coach, joining Franz Beckenbauer, Oleg Blokhin and Marco van Basten.
