By Cameron Da Silva
Group C: Japan, Ivory Coast, Greece, Colombia
The Colombians were dealt a huge blow to their World Cup chances when star striker Falcao suffered a serious knee injury in January. The 28-year-old who plays his club football in Monaco scored 11 goals in 19 appearances this season before his season-ending surgery. He was Colombia’s top scorer in qualification, finishing with nine goals in ten games.
“Losing Radamel Falcao is a massive blow. As a fan of the game, I was incredibly disappointed to see him get injured,” said Brendan Dunlop.
The South American side has never made it past the 16th round and has only made it out of the group stages once. They failed to qualify for the three previous World Cups, last playing in France in 1998.
“It’s been a long time since Colombia have been considered a real threat internationally and when they were 20 years ago at USA ’94, they didn’t have any where the near calibre of players that they have now,” said Brendan Dunlop.
Before Falcao’s injury, Colombia was predicted to make the quarter-finals with a squad that has a great mix of speed, strength and youth. There are question marks surrounding their team and wjether Falcao can return following this serious injury. He has the ability to take over games and if he is not match fit, the question is, who will take his place?
Falcao
“They have Jackson Martinez who has shown glimpses of it and I think they’re going to be relying on him for a lot of the offensive spark in Brazil and they have a decent midfield that can play the possession game and pass the ball around,” said Dunlop.