REACTION to Colombia’s win vs. Paraguay 🇨🇴 ‘Be happy with the win!’ – Ale Moreno | Futbol Americas

Ale Moreno and Herculez Gomez join Sebastian Salazar on Futbol Americas to react to Colombia’s 2-1 victory over Paraguay in Copa America 2024 Group D play.

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NRG Stadium Houston Texas the Bayou City Home of today’s Group D opener between Colombia and parai a match won by the Colombians by a final score of 2 to1 as we welcome you into the football America La Studios Ali Moreno Hercules Gomez Sebastian Salasar Ali Columbia came into this tournament as one of the favorites did they look like it here in their first game at times I think at times they did in the first half in particular there were moments in which you kind of see okay this is what they can be in the attack when you control the pace of the game control the rhythm of the game and allow James Rodriguez to get in the ball in advanced position then at this point still in his career he can find a ball he can find a pass and he did that for the first goal what a beautiful service that was for Danielle Munoz and certainly the set piece as well and the goal for Jefferson lman you’re thinking well that’s the Colombia we were hoping to get and expecting to get but even in that first half there were moments in which Paraguay even the game up and it felt like if Paraguay had something else in the attack maybe they would have created more problems for Colombia they did that in the second half with the goal that they scor overall I think Colombia will be happy with the result in terms of the performance uh I think they’ll be happy of moments they also be happy about the fact that it was a relatively quiet game from Luis Diaz it was a really quiet game from Rafael Santo V and you still got two goals and you still got the three points overall I think if you if you are Colombia you walk out of this much like many of the teams that I’ve played so far in this tournament we’ll take the three points and will Mo won with our lives uh James Rodriguez with a couple assists at 32 years old what do you think of his performance I’d say typical James Rodriguez performance with the Columbia national team and why I say that is because there’s two versions of jamus Rodriguez what you see at the club level and what you get at the national team seems to transform when he puts on that yellow Jersey he’s a different type of player Al mentioned the quality he has on the ball set pieces were were a factor here every time he was over the ball on a set piece it was a dangerous ball whipped in it was a goalscoring opportunity gets his head up he finds Munoz he’s got that quality about him one play in the second half where he decided wrong he maybe should have shot and started trying to service his his teammate uh regardless when he’s in the final third ball at his feet and he has time and space he’s going to hurt you he’s a quality player he’s proven it the problem the problem that I think Colombia has with Jam Rodriguez and of course he’s going to be on the field because he is still that guy for this team uh we think of who’s a flag bearer for Colombia well it is Luis Diaz but close and I mean close behind him it’s James Rodriguez and anytime he touches the ball the stadium gets excited but here’s the problem when they lose control of the game when they lose the Rhythm and pace of the match and now you’re going to need some work defensively from Hames Rodriguez it’s not happening it’s not coming and so I think you find the liability of having ham Rodriguez on the field in those sort of moments and Paraguay sort of took advantage of that and just as soon as we thought that maybe parag Paraguay were going to get back in the match then you see the qualities of James Rodriguez actually getting in possession of the ball and being an outlet for Colombia and taking the game into the attacking half and they were no longer just hanging on in their defensive third they were actually in the attacking third and looking closer to a third goal rather than Paraguay tying the game up so it’s that it’s that dichotomy is that is that contrast in his game in which you kind of figure man he’s good when he’s on the ball but it’s tough to defend if he’s on the field but we’ll take the fact that he’s on the ball because of what he can do but do we really because defensively is a problem against better teams I think it becomes a bigger problem but today it wasn’t so much of an issue to Ali’s point on that it’s really odd that Lorenzo has been able to mask over those cracks paper over those cracks defensive liability I will say with h Rodriguez with how good they’ve been defensively workup qualifying you you have a player like Den Ali’s very very you know correct in saying you’re going to lose defensive stability other players Bor and Arias whoever the case may be have to do a little bit more work because of the quality gives you going forward but they’ve been very good defending in World Cup qualifying and this game was prototypical game that we’ve seen from Columbia in World Cup qualifying they’ve not scored a whole lot of goals they scored two today but it’s get your goal defend well close it up in the back and they’re undefeated right now in World Cup qualifying but bagay also lent itself paguay was a team that did very little in the first half came out of a shell in the second half threatened yes and for a moments scared Colombia but really for the better part of an hour gave Colombia no issues and it was until the end until they decided to try to play this game what’s pw’s regret coming out of this game because there were some moments certainly in the second half where you thought they might be able to get something out of it yeah outside of Julio and ciso you look at that attacking Core group of players and nobody really stood out you think Miguel aliron would be that guy and couple of his touches today were honestly very disappointing and he got himself in a couple of good positions but he will not play the ball with his right foot in particular one in the first half in which he’s actually isolated to the point that he’s has a direct path to goal if he just takes One Touch One Touch pass the defender with his right foot but he is so dependent on that left foot and if if he he’s unable to then take advantage of the space that was created for him of the angle that he had and because he now has to open up his body to use his left foot then that angle is gone then that forces him to take a second touch that allows Defenders to come across and then completely gone the opportunity for Paraguay and so I think if parag are going to do anything in this group and I don’t think they will but if they are going to do anything in this group you have to have a much better version of Miguel aliron because if not it becomes a Julio and ciso show and I don’t think that that’s enough to trouble the best teams in this competition to bring it back to Colombia the crowd today seemed to be incredible it’s not the first time we’ve seen that with Colombia playing in this country how much a factor you think that could be in their favor as the tournament progresses absolutely you saw it when they played the US Men’s National Team in the US men’s national team’s Home Country Columbia was a home in the capital city basically in the capital city this is what they’re going to get anytime they go forward it’s a well-traveled fan base the team feeds off it the field left a lot to be desired it looked very heavy this is game one who knows what those fields will look like game three four what those players bodies will feel like game three four um but certainly the fan base having that type of support away from home is going to give him a leg up and let’s not let’s not forget because it’s becoming a story in this tournament the early substitutions because of injuries and it was a case today for Colombia and Jan Lumi who is their their standout Defender some people may have thought it was Davison Sanchez when you you look at that back forth lukumi is a guy that has been the more consistent starter for Colombia and so that forces Jer minina to come onto the field whatever’s left of Jer minina as good as he has been for Colombia look he’s he doesn’t look great when he’s moving around in that back line but he now has to play a more important role Jeffers LMA had to come on come off early as well what’s his stat what’s his situation so it continues to be a storyline in this tournament that we’re seeing early substitutions and we’re seeing players that are suffering the effects of perhaps a long long season wherever they may be coming from and that long season is translating into potentially injuries that could hurt the chances of a team like Colombia you think Colombia can win it all based on what we saw today not based on what we saw today I think Colombia can win it all based on the body of work that they’ve had coming into this tournament but if it is based on what we saw today and that indeed was your question then I think they come up just short we need to see better from Luis Diaz more not necessarily more active because he was running back and forth but he wasn’t really finding himself in good positions going forward he really had to and we’re not the only ones that are paying attention to Diaz and so Paraguay it it’s no surprise that they shift over the right back and then the Midfield that comes out into white area and then the trailing attacking player as well so he created a 3v1 situation against Lis Diaz and even that there were moments in which he was able to get out of those out of those situations and create space and find a ball across but we just didn’t see enough of him touching the ball in the final third going towards goal here’s the problem with playing a team like bada while they’re very good defensively a very gritty defensive team they’ve only given up three goals in all of qualifying they don’t have the quality up top to threaten you they’ve only scored one goal in all the whole campaign they’ve got one win which is B against Bolivia we saw what the US men nation was able to do against this Bolivian team it really wasn’t a test so when you don’t have that threat because Colombia at times well maybe they were lulled into a game versus paada but a better team with a little bit of speed in transition take advantage the one chance that p pa had they took advantage of Mika’s in excuse me um incapacity to defend or be disciplined uh at the left back position and they end up scoring a goal if you could find a more precise team that threatens you for this version of Columbia we saw against BW that could be trouble all right so Columbia 2-1 winners over paai in group D up next for Columbia it’s Costa Rica and Arizona up next for pawai It’s Brazil in Las Vegas both those games on Friday and a reminder catch football America a little bit later tonight on ESPN 2 that’s right 8:00 p.m. Pacific 1100 p.m. Eastern it’s Al Com or what fearsome forsome on your television where she been getting ready all right okay