Colombia He qualified for his seventh World Cup by winning Thursday by 3-0 Bolivia On the penultimate day of the South American Qualifiers to the 2026 World Cup in the Metropolitan Stadium of Barranquilla. With goals from James Rodríguez, Jhon Córdoba and Juan Fernando Quintero, the team led by the Argentine Néstor Lorenzo managed, in addition to the classification, to break a run of six games without winning and climbed to the fifth place with 25 points.
The green, on the other hand, still has the possibility of playing the playback despite the defeat, because it occupies the eighth place with 17 points, one less than Venezuela that is seventh, and in the last day it will receive Brazil in the high with the eye to win and that the Vinotinto does not come to Colombia at home.
The hosts appropriated the ball from the first moment, but they had difficulty breaking the large Bolivian defense, so the first approach came just in the 8th minute in a play in which Córdoba took a shot in the area that passed over the goal of Carlos Lampe.
The local team continued to attack and had opportunities to open the score with auction of the steering wheel Jhon Arias, by midfielder Richard Ríos and James who were all stopped by the Bolivian goalkeeper, who began to become the figure of the game. Visitors, meanwhile, only had an opportunity to score in the first half in the 17th minute in a free kick from the attacker Miguel Terceres that passed very close to the right stick of the Arc de Camilo Vargas.
In that context, Colombia opened the scoring in the 32nd minute in a good play in which the extreme Luis Díaz was associated with the side of Santiago Arias, who sent a crawling center so that James, first and with his right foot, sent the ball to the bottom of the goal of a surprised Lampe.
In the second half, the game was more fought, although the hosts maintained control of the ball. However, the Green approached again in 52 with a very strong medium distance auction that Vargas stopped. The game also began to be slower and both teams relax, especially in defense where they left spaces that tried to take advantage of the strikers with their speed.
Technical file
3 – Colombia: Camilo Vargas; Santiago Arias, Davinson Sánchez, Jhon Lucumí, Johan Mojica; Jefferson Lerma (m.82, Juan Camilo Portilla), Richard Ríos, Jhon Arias (M.61, Jaminton Campaz), James Rodríguez (m.61, Juan Fernando Quintero); Luis Díaz (m.87, Marino Hnestroza) and Jhon Córdoba (m.82, Dayro Moreno).
Coacator: Néstor Lorenzo.
0 – Bolivia: Carlos Lampe; Diego Medina (M.67, Yomar Rocha), Efraín Morales, Luis Haquín, Roberto Fernández; Gabriel Villamil (m.77, Moisés Villarroel), Robson Matheus (m.76, Carlos Melgar), Ervin Vaca; Miguel Terceros, José Sagredo (m.76, Henry Vaca) and Moisés Paniagua (m.68, Carmelo Algaranaz).
Coacator: Óscar Villegas.
Goals: 1-0, James Rodríguez (m. 32); 2-0, Jhon Córdoba (m. 74); 3-0, Juan Fernando Quintero (m. 83)
Referee: Argentine Darío Herrera. He admonished Ervin Vaca and Jhon Córdoba.
Incidents: Party of the penultimate day of the South American Qualifiers to the 2026 World Cup played at the Roberto Meléndez de Barranquilla Metropolitan Stadium.
Precisely Miguel Third Parties, the most active of the Bolivian attackers, had a chance again to the backlash in which he was alone under the arch but could not finish off. Colombia, on the other hand, did take advantage of the spaces and expanded the score in 74 when Quintero, who replaced James who came out with annoyance, leaked a pass for Córdoba, which entered the area and took out a right impossible to stop for Lampe.
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The 3-0 arrived in 83 in another great collective play in which Luis Díaz overflowed along the left side and sent a pass to the other side of the area for Quintero, which he received comfortable and had time to get a well accommodated auction that exploded in joy to the crowd that filled the Metropolitan Stadium. At the close, Lorenzo gave admitted to the veteran scorer Dayro Moreno, who turns 40 this month and was requested by the public, and the team proceedings to the final minutes to celebrate a classification that was postponed for several days.
