Key events
Full time: Colombia 1-0 Ghana
Fourteen teams in the round of 16 are happy that they do not have to face this Colombia side. Are they a great team? No, definitely not. They’re indisciplined. Their attack is chaotic. But all 11 players defend aggressively. If they score first against Switzerland, I’d recommend turning off the TV and going to the pool.
90 min +8 Suarez with a nice judo toss to reclaim the ball. Can’t be much left.
90 min +7 Free kick to Colombia, and all the efforts to prevent time-wasting are failing.
90 min +6 I’ll guess two more minutes for the injury.
Ati-Zigi again with a good save on a shot that wasn’t hit far from him but with remarkable pace. And another!
90 min +5 Just a terrible giveaway from Ghana. Youth soccer teams would be frustrated with that one. Colombia sportingly give it back just to make things interesting, but they steal it back again.
90 min +4 Suarez with a header 6 yards out, but Ati-Zigi’s fists are about 6 inches away in anticipation, and the ball bounds away.
Colombia maintain possession, though.
90 min +4 Did you know the Laws of the Game include sanctions for impeding an opponent. Yeah. Ever seen it called?
90 min +3 Oli Pritchard writes: “Richard Rios is not only a fine player, but a fine man according to most Colombianas. Plenty of wolf whistles for him here in Bogotá.”
90 min +1 There’s nothing horribly malicious in any of these one-on-one encounters. Just sloppy grappling and the occasional controlled collision.
CHANCE for Colombia on a cross from Quintero. Rios tries to leap and get his head on the other side of Mensah, but being unable to phase through solid matter, it doesn’t happen, and we get physios on the field to attend to both players.
Stoppage time guess: Six minutes. And I’m right again!
90 min Campaz is coming in for Diaz, who gets a lecture from the ref as he heads off but frankly is going pretty fast for a guy who put countless miles on his legs in this game.
89 min Look, not every game can be Argentina-Cape Verde. Thank you for sticking around through this one, even though Ghana aren’t really showing much of a chance of extending this one.
87 min Add “pointless” to our list of foul categories. Semanyo just tossed Puerta to the ground. The Colombian midfielder implausibly holds his mouth as if he had been punched in the jaw, which is nearly on a Rivaldo level of acting.
87 min Diaz with a … shot? Cross? Cleared. Ghana reclaim the ball, and Diaz fouls Nuamah.
86 min Ghana press forward – they’re running out of time. And now they turn it over and watch helplessly as Colombia pass it around. Everyone gets a touch, including goalkeeper Vargas.
85 min Suárez knocks down Luckassen, who adds some theatrics but was certainly fouled.
84 min SCREAMER from Quintero from distance, just wide of the post. I’d love to see the speed stat on that one. I’d guess over 100 km/h.
83 min Ghana get a touch in the opposing box! But just one or two. They keep it, and Fatawu tries a diagonal cross that swerves like a Roberto Carlos free kick and bounces straight into Vargas’ hands. Haven’t seen much of the Colombian keeper in this game.
82 min Replay on the Sanchez header: Ati-Zigi was actually scrambling with both feet behind his own line but alertly swatted the ball down and came back out in the playable area to collect it.
80 min Diaz dribbles down the left with the intensity of someone trying to run through a wall. His shot is blocked out for a corner. From the corner, Sanchez gets a head to it and it’s a terrific save by Ati-Zigi.
Reminder: Ati-Zigi played the first half of Ghana’s opener but went out injured and hasn’t played since then.
79 min Ghana rolling the dice here: Nuamah and Adu (Prince, not Freddy) are in for Ayew and Yirenkyi.
78 min Yellow card to Rios for barging into a player to stop a counterattack.
77 min Colombia’s defense has been resolute. Ghana just can’t get into the opposing box.
76 min Belated yellow to Seidu for trying to come through the back of a Colombian player. Free kick from 30 yards. Quintero’s kick probably would’ve gone about 50 yards if not for the stands behind the goal.
75 min Your expected goals (xG) stat for this half so far: Colombia not so much, Ghana a bit less.
74 min Sub for Colombia – goalscorer Jhon Arias is out. Juan Quintero is in.
Hydration mail
Ray Hyland: “Diaz offside? That must be 5 times already this tournament?”
I’m not sure I know where to find that stat. It exists somewhere.
Peter Oh: “Cape Verde’s Vozinha made headlines earlier but the world is also seeing some Zigi stardust!”
Good tournament for African goalkeepers, isn’t it?
We have reckless, careless, needless and …
Scott Martin: “There is also a toothless foul, which is (the other) Luis Suarez fouling without biting someone.”
69 min What’s the sound of tens of thousands of Colombian fans whistling? Turn on your country’s rights-holding broadcaster to find out. Not happy with Ghana haveing the ball for so long.
Semenyo lines up a shot, but it’s blocked. The rebound is shot wide, which will come as a surprise to the statkeeper I just checked that claims Ghana have had no shots in this half.
Hydrate!
67 min One thing I learned quickly as a ref – sorting out who should get a throw-in is sometimes extremely difficult. You can’t be everywhere, and when players are contesting for the ball, you might be screened as the ball takes its last carom on its way out.
Ghana possess despite some insistent Colombian pressure.
66 min Tempers are rising, and I believe Fatawu just got yellow for dissent after what was indeed a missed call as the ball went out of play off Colombia but Colombia got the throw-in.
65 min It’s not pretty, but it’s pretty compelling as Colombia conducts a rondo drill around Ghanaian players. Rondos were all the rage in US youth soccer for a while.
63 min Colombia hold the ball on the right. Semenyo presses. Back to the keeper. Semenyo presses. Over to the left. Semenyo presses. Soccer players at this level have remarkable engines, don’t they?
62 min The game is turning into a bit of a grappling contest.
Ghana subs: Sibo and Williams out. Owusu and Leicester City’s Fatawu in.
60 min Colombia play long but now long enough, and Ghana win it back. Rios fouls … the breakdown of fouls is careless (ordinary foul), reckless (yellow) and with excessive force or endangering the safety of an opponent (red), but there’s also needless – ordinary foul that just gives the opponent easy possession.
59 min CHANCE for Ghana as Williams works his way down the right and centers it, forcing some close-range defending.
Sibo is cramped or otherwise injured, and subs will be made.
58 min CHANCE for Colombia as the Ghanaian defenders are nowhere to be found while Colombia gleefully go on the fast break. Diaz launches a blistering shot, but Ati-Zigi is equal to it.
57 min NO GOAL! Probably. Confirmed. It’s a wonderful combination of quick medium-range passes, but Diaz was a full body width offside before knocking it into the goal.
54 min A through ball to Suárez tests Luckassen, who has to concede a corner. It’s played to the corner of the box, and a shot whistled toward goal but is punched clear by Ati-Zigi.
Remember when MLS had a “catch/punch” stat?
53 min Ghana try to break down a phalanx of Colombian defenders. Semenyo gets free on the left and crosses, but his teammates didn’t heed the call to race onto the ball.
51 min Yirenkyi gets a yellow card for a shirt pull. That’s illegal again?
