As you walk along Swan Street approaching Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, you could be fooled into thinking that you were walking the streets of Bogotá. The energy from the Colombian fans was electric hours before kick-off even occurred.
This energy was crucial in willing the Colombian national team over the line in a hard-fought win over Jamaica. With both teams looking to make their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter final, the match started out extremely physical which led to many stoppages inside the first half an hour.
But it wasn’t until the 51st minute that the deadlock was broken when Colombian captain Catalina Usme perfectly controlled a cross-field diagonal pass from 18-year-old debutant Ana Guzman which Usme then powerfully struck into the back of the net.
The goal sent Melbourne Rectangular Stadium into raptures, with one fan running onto the pitch to take a selfie with Mayra Ramírez, which she obliges, stopping security from removing the fan until a good-quality selfie is taken.
Despite the noise in the stadium, Jamaican head coach Lorne Donaldson assured journalists that it did not sway the Jamaican players.
“I don’t think that phased us. Maybe they thought the people were cheering for them because it was all yellow,” said Donaldson.
“No, I don’t think the crowd had anything to do with the match. We are Jamaica, We’re not phased by a crowd or anything. We just went down here and we just didn’t play to to our standard, the crowd had nothing to do with it.”
Colombia is now the sole representative in the FIFA Women’s World Cup from all of the Americas. After the game, Colombian head coach Nelson Abadia spoke about how the Colombian team wanted to make history at this World Cup.
“For the World Cup, the first thing I said to my team was we are not here just to spend some time, no we want to write history, we want to make history,” said Abadia.
“It is better to make history rather than tell history. We brought the 23 best players from our country and we know how good they are.”
Nonetheless, Colombia still has a big mountain to climb as their opponent in the quarter finals will be one of the tournament favourites in England.
So if Abadia and his squad want to make history they are going to have to pull out all the stops on the 12th of August in Sydney.
Featured Image Credit: FIFA
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