The special guest did not come: Don Gol. The Colombian and Canadian teams did not hurt each other and tied 0-0 in a friendly preparation match played at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison (New Jersey), where there was little emotion and a lot of strong play.
The South Americans, led by Argentine coach Néstor Lorenzo, took the opportunity to test several players and the experiment did not give the strategist very good results, as the team had difficulties creating danger and associating well.
However, the Canadians did not do much damage in attack either and both teams neutralized each other and were left to owe to the crowd that came to the stadium of the neighboring “Garden State.”
The Americans imposed conditions in the first minutes with the high pressure they exerted on the departure of the coffee growers, who had many difficulties stringing together sequences of passes and sent very few balls to the scorer Juan Camilo ‘Cucho’ Hernández.
The Canadian team, led by American Jesse Marsch, began to team up mainly on the right side, where midfielder Tajon Buchanan became a headache for the defense due to his mobility.
However, Buchanan’s pressure and work did not have positive effects on the progress, as the forwards Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi were of little importance, completely controlled by the Colombian center backs Jhon Lucumí and Davinson Sánchez.
Inaccuracies and rough play set the pace of a first half in which neither team had clear opportunities to score against goalkeepers Álvaro Montero and Dayne St. Clair.
In the second half, coach Lorenzo brought on veteran James Rodríguez to try to have more of the ball, but the Colombian team still had many difficulties creating opportunities.
As the minutes passed, both the Americans and the coffee growers relaxed and began to leave space.
This is how the first clear opportunity of the game came at 56 in a lethal counterattack led by “Cucho” Hernández, who enabled Luis Díaz who in the one-on-one took a right hand that brushed St. Clair’s left post.
Canada, for its part, continued attacking from the right with Buchanan and more David and Oluwaseyi began to appear, although they were not entirely clear either and were controlled by an organized “cumbiambera” defense.
At minute 75, when there was little emotion in the game, David scored in a very quick play, but American judge Guido González annulled the goal because in the previous play Jacob Shaffelburg, who made the assist, was offside.
In the end, the striker Rafael Santos Borré had an opportunity for Colombia and the right back Andrés Román another with a shot that crashed into the post, which almost caused the South Americans who filled the stadium of the NY Red Bulls club to celebrate.
Despite this, neither of the two countries could score and the duel ended 0-0, leaving many questions for the players and the technical teams that must improve.
The next preparation matches for the Colombian team are on US soil against New Zealand, on Saturday, November 15 (7 pm ET), at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
And then Colombia will face Nigeria, on Tuesday, November 18 (8 pm ET), at Citi Field in Queens County, New York, where a large Colombian community resides.
This is how they aligned
– Colombia (0): Alvaro Montero; Andrés Román, Davinson Sánchez, Jhon Lucumí, Johan Mujica; Juan Camilo Portilla (m.79, Jefferson Lerma), Richard Ríos (m.78, Kevin Castaño), Jaminton Campaz (m.46, James Rodríguez), Juan Fernando Quintero (m.60, Kevin Serna); Luis Díaz (m.60, Yasser Asprilla) and Juan Camilo ‘Cucho’ Hernández (m.60, Rafael Santos Borré).
– Selector: Néstor Lorenzo (Argentine).
– Canada (0): Dayne St. Clair; Niko Sigur (m.84, Zohran Bassong), Luc de Fougerolles, Derek Cornelius, Richie Laryea; Ismaël Koné (m.84, Matthieu Choiniere), Stephen Eustáquio, Tajon Buchanan (m.71, Jacob Shaffelburg), Ali Ahmed (m.60, Liam Millar); Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi (d.72, David Promise).
– Selector: Jesse Marsch.
– Referee: The American Guido González. He admonished Laryea, Cornelius and Sigur.
– Incidents: Friendly match at the Sports Illustrated Stadium, in Harrison, New Jersey (USA).
