This is a record of Colombia's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
Contents
- Colombia at the 1962 FIFA World Cup
- Colombia at the 1990 FIFA World Cup
- Colombia at the 1994 FIFA World Cup
- Colombia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup
- Colombia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup
- Goalscorers
- References
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently takes place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Colombia has appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on five occasions in 1962, 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2014.
Colombia at the 1962 FIFA World Cup
In the 1962 qualifiers, they faced Peru in a two-game series and qualified for their first World Cup.
Colombia qualified.
At Chile 1962, Colombia lost 2–1 to South American champions Uruguay in their opening match. They then drew 4–4 with the reigning European champions Soviet Union in one of biggest shocks at Chile 1962. It should be noted that in this game, Colombia scored four goals against Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin, widely considered the best goalkeeper in football history. Also in that game, Marcos Coll scored the only Olympic goal in World Cup history. Additionally, in coming back from three goals down to draw the match, the Colombians completed the biggest comeback to draw in World Cup history. Unfortunately, their campaign ended with a 5–0 defeat to Euro 1960 runners-up Yugoslavia, so they went out in the group stage.
Group One
Colombia at the 1990 FIFA World Cup
At Italia '90, Colombia defeated United Arab Emirates 2–0, lost to Yugoslavia 1–0, and earned their place in the Round of Sixteen after a dramatic 1–1 draw with West Germany, which would later win the Cup. Group D
During their Round of Sixteen match against Cameroon, the game went into extra time after a 0–0 draw. In an unfortunate moment, goalkeeper René Higuita failed to protect the ball 35 yards (32 m) from the goal line, enabling Cameroon striker Roger Milla to snatch it from him, and score Cameroon's decisive second goal. Milla struck twice, giving Cameroon a 2–0 lead in extra time. Colombia would score in the 115th minute, but were unable to get an equalizer.
Colombia at the 1994 FIFA World Cup
Qualification — CONMEBOL Group One
Colombia qualified. Argentina advanced to the CONMEBOL / CONCACAF / OFC Intercontinental Play-off.
Colombia finished top of their qualifying group without having lost a match, which included a historic 5–0 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires. Expectations of the team were high, some even naming them as favourites to win the tournament.
The match between Colombia and Romania was the first game for either side in the group phase. Romania took the lead in the 16th minute with their first attack of the match when Raducioiu took on three defenders before firing home a low shot. On the half hour mark, Hagi made it 2–0 when he noticed Córdoba out of position and dipped a cross over his head into the net. Valencia pulled a goal back for the Colombians in the 43rd minute when he headed in a corner from Perez. In the second half, Raducioiu put the result beyond doubt with his second goal in the final few minutes.
The team went into their second group game against the United States knowing they had to win to have any chance of progressing. On the 35th minute Andrés Escobar attempted to cut out a cross but accidentally deflected the ball into his own net. Earnie Stewart took the US two goals in front after scoring in the 56th minute. Valencia scored a consolation goal for Colombia in the closing minutes of the match. They did win their final group match 2–0 over Switzerland, but it was not enough to help them progress
Group A
Colombia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup
Colombia began their qualification rounds in South America well and ended in third place with 28 points, 2 points below Argentina who was in 1st place with 30 points. They ended in Group G with Tunisia, England, and Romania.
Qualification For France 98: A total of 10 CONMEBOL teams entered the competition. The South American zone was allocated 5 places (out of 32) in the final tournament. Brazil, the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 4 spots open for competition between 9 teams.
Final Standings
Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile qualified.
Group G
In their opening match, Adrian Ilie of Valencia CF gave Romania a 1–0 victory over Colombia after he placed a magnificent chip shot in the 44th minute from some 15 yards (14 m) that sailed over goalkeeper Farid Mondragón into the net.
Colombia's second match was against Tunisia. Colombia's Leider Preciado struck seven minutes from the end to give a 1-0 win.
Although England needed only a draw to guarantee a place in the Final 16, Darren Anderton drove home a fiercely struck angled drive in the 20th minute. David Beckham curled in a 30-yard (27 m) free kick nine minutes later and England won the game 2-0. Colombia was thus eliminated.
Colombia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup
After 16 years out of the World Cup, Colombia won their first match against Greece by a score of 3-0, marking the country's best ever performance in FIFA World Cup. The first goal was scored by Pablo Armero five minutes after the kick-off, Teofilo Gutierrez scored the second goal from a corner shot, James Rodriguez made their final score during the three minutes overtime. Colombia went on to beat Ivory Coast 2-1 and Japan 4-1. For the first time in history, Colombia won their group in group stages at the Fifa World Cup. They defeated Uruguay 2-0 in the Round of 16, marking the deepest run in the World Cup ever for the Colombian national team. They met Brazil in the quarter-finals and were narrowly defeated 2-1, bringing to an end their most successful World Cup campaign to date.