Colombia debuted with two goals in the U-20 Women’s World Cup

The Colombian under-20 team made its debut in the World Cup of this category this Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Australia with goals from center Yunaira López and attacker Linda Caicedo, who got the Colombian team out of trouble in a rocky match.

At Bogotá’s El Campín stadium, which was packed for the hosts’ debut in the tournament, neither team was able to overpower their opponents and there were few scoring opportunities, but Carlos Paniagua’s team managed to take advantage of their best moment to take the victory in a set piece play and in another good partnership between the attackers.

Although ‘The Matildas’ came out to take possession of the ball in the first few minutes, they did not have much depth and the two players called upon to create had little impact on the field: Indiana Dos Santos and Jynaya Dos Santos.

The Cafeteras, for their part, had many difficulties in getting the ball to their three attacking players: Caicedo, Karla Torres and Karla Viancha, who every time they received the ball they had to face the strength of the defenders Sasha Grove, Naomi Chinnama, Alexia Apostolakis and Jessika Nash.

The first attempt by the Oceanic team was with a lobbed ball that almost hung goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo, while the hosts peeked into the rival goal with two shots by midfielder Katerine Osorio and attacker Karla Torres that were easily saved by goalkeeper Clhoe Lincoln.

For the second half, Colombia came out with a different attitude and began to play closer and closer to the opponent’s goal, although Caicedo and Gabriela Rodríguez, those called to create, were not being entirely clear.

Despite Colombia not creating any opportunities, they found the net in the 58th minute when a corner kick by Rodriguez bounced off an opponent and landed in the hands of Lopez, who fired a right-footed shot into the back of the Australian net to the delight of the crowd.

In the 71st minute, Australia equalised after a good collective play between two players who came on in the second half, Amber Luchtmeijer and Avaani Prakash, which was scored by Indiana Dos Santos. However, Croatian referee Ivana Martincic ruled out the goal after a VAR review due to a foul at the start of the play.

Colombia took advantage of this five minutes later to extend their lead. Striker Maithé López sent a cross to Caicedo, who controlled it and fired a shot that Lincoln’s goalkeeper was unable to clear.

In the next match, scheduled for Tuesday at El Campín, the hosts will play Cameroon, while the Australians will do the same with Mexico.