England National Football Team Match No. 749

Colombia 0 England 2 [0-2]

Friday, 26 June 1998

Match Summary and Report

Match Summary

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Colombia Team

Colombia Lineup

Colombia Substitutes

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England Team

England Lineup

England Substitutes

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Match Report

Shooting stars Darren Anderton and David Beckham put England into the second round of the World Cup in a one-sided 2-0 victory over Colombia that left the South Americans as first-round losers again.  Although England needed only a draw to guarantee a place in the final 16, Anderton drove home a fiercely-struck angled drive in the 20th minute.  Beckham curled in a 30-yard free kick nine minutes later to the delight of Prince Charles, Prince Harry and a huge following of English fans at the Felix Bollaert stadium.

The result meant that England finished second behind Romania in the Group G standings and will meet old foe Argentina in Saint-Etienne for a place in the last eight.  The Colombians go home early for the second time in a row. Their disastrous 1994 performance led to the shooting death of Andres Escobar, who scored an own goal in a loss to the United States, and was gunned down in his home town of Medellin.

Glenn Hoddle's players, beaten by a late goal by Romania in the previous game, looked impressive against a low-quality Colombian team whose goalkeeper, Farid Mondragon, prevented a crushing loss with seven second-half saves. 

England's first shot on goal was less than two minutes into the match when the power of Alan Shearer in the air, even when challenged by two Colombian defenders, set up the opportunity for Paul Scholes.  Allowed room 25 yards from goal, the Manchester United forward hit the ball with plenty of power and keeper Mondragon saved awkwardly, moving slightly the wrong way.

England put together a slick four-man move that ended with a tame side-footed shot from Graeme Le Saux in the 19th minute before taking the lead with a far more impressive finish.  The Colombian defence struggled to clear a right wing cross and the ball dropped to the unmarked Anderton, just inside the right side of the penalty box.  The Tottenham winger, who has barely played during the last two seasons because of a series of injuries, hammered the ball first time into the roof of the net from an acute angle with Mondragon powerless.

It should have been 2-0 four minutes later when another well-constructed move involving Beckham and Anderton saw Scholes go close and the ball fell to the unmarked Michael Owen who settled and fired over the top from 12 yards. 

But the second goal came in the 29th minute in spectacular style.  Paul Ince was brought down 30 yards from goal and Beckham produced one of his specialty free kicks, curling the ball round the wall past the dive of Mondragon and inside his left-hand post.

Jorge Bermudez rescued Colombia with an deft tackle on Owen as the 18-year-old striker headed for goal after being released by Shearer's pass. Then Colombia came up with its first on-target shot four minutes before half time, Leider Preciado forcing David Seaman to make a difficult save at the foot of the near post. 

The Colombians made three substitutions at half time, including bringing on a replacement strikeforce of Hamilton Ricard and Adolfo Valencia with Victor Aristizabal going to operate behind them. But it was still England making the running and Mondragon did well to make four good saves in the first eight minutes of the second half. 

The Colombian keeper arched his back to palm over a shot from Scholes, keep out a header and shot from Shearer and then block another close-range effort from Owen after defender Sol Campbell had run through the defense on a 30-yard run.

The Colombians had plenty of possession in deep positions but did little to worry the English defence. They clearly missed star striker Faustino Asprilla, who was dropped from the squad after criticizing coach Hernan Gomez in a radio interview.  Freddy Rincon moved into a good shooting position 30 yards from goal but the alert Campbell moved in quickly with a block that took the sting out of the shot long before it reached Seaman.

Then Owen burrowed through the Colombian defence again only for Everth Palacios to get back with a well-timed tackle just as the youngster was primed to shoot.

Ricard, who plays in England for Middlesbrough, curled a speculative 20-yard volley just wide of the post as Colombia made a rare threat with 11 minutes to go. But Owen should have made it 3-0 with seven minutes to go when he shot straight at Mondragon after Shearer had put him clear. In the final few minutes, the keeper threw himself to his left and right to keep out more shots from Le Saux and Shearer.  - CNN/SI - Soccer World Cup 1998.

Source Notes

CNN/SI - Soccer World Cup 1998
Official FIFA Match report

CG