Colombia grew tired of appearing sporadically only on the podiums of the South American Under-17 football championship. For 33 years, since it lifted the trophy for the first and only time, it did not know what it was to win that tournament. But this Sunday it made history again by defeating the powerful Argentina 4-0 and conquering that championship for the second time.
The youth team reached this stage after defeating the heavy favorite Brazil 3-0, and Argentina left Ecuador on the way 3-1. The victory of the coffee-growing side over Brazil was significant because it is the top winner of this tournament: it has lifted the trophy in 14 of the 21 editions that have been played since 1985. With that victory and high spirits, they faced the Albiceleste at the stadium in Luque, on the outskirts of Asuncion (Paraguay).
With that objective in mind, Luigi Ortiz, Edwin Estrella, Juan Fori, Santiago Vallecilla, Anderson Murillo, Eider Carrillo, Samuel Martinez, Miguel Agamez, Jose Escorcia, Matias Caicedo, and Adrian Mosquera took the field. Colombia started without density in midfield, so the Argentines had some approaches without major danger for Ortiz’s goal. Argentina proposed and Colombia responded.
But in the eighth minute, Colombia gave the first sign of what it could do on the counterattack, although they were called offside. And in the 10th minute, the numbers of the tricolor showed its behavior as they marked ball possession of 62% to 38% for Argentina. At that point, Colombia began to go deeper.
The stadium went dark, but the goals lit up
However, the match suffered a sudden stoppage. Although the venue was making its international debut with the match between Colombia and Argentina, in the 31st minute the electricity went out due to the explosion of a transformer located behind Colombia’s goal. Power was restored eleven minutes later and the match resumed.
The incident did not reduce the focus or the drive of the two teams. In the 50th minute, the Argentine captain struck the crossbar of the Colombian goal. But nine minutes later, the response from the tricolor was forceful.
The tall and skillful Martinez carried the ball to the vicinity of the Argentine area, where he passed it to Agamez, who fired a powerful shot to beat the Argentine goalkeeper and score Colombia’s first. That is how they went into the break.
While Colombia was winning the match, Argentina was losing its head
Argentina began the second half with two changes and set up a system to press in the area where Martinez was moving, from whose feet came the first goal they conceded. But that was not enough: in the 53rd minute, Caicedo received in the Argentine area a lob that was sent from midfield and, with his back to goal, headed it with the crown of his head to make it 2-0.
Seven minutes later, the magic of Colombian football appeared on the field in Luque. On the left side, Escorcia got past his marker with an impressive turn of the waist, reached the end line, and sent a cross with his left foot. The delivery was met again by Agamez with a header, who scored his second goal and the third for the Colombia national team.
In the 65th minute, Colombian goalkeeper Ortiz stopped a powerful shot from Argentina. It seemed that the Argentines were starting to get back on track, but besides losing the match, they also began to lose their composure. Mateo Mendizabal received a red card and was sent off for violent play. A few minutes later, Emiliano Barrionuevo was shown a yellow card.
A few minutes before the end of the match, Escorcia, who had made the assist for Colombia’s third goal, scored the fourth and pushed the Argentines over the edge, as they became more violent. In the 88th minute, the Argentines Alcaraz and Escobar also saw the red card.
As soon as order was restored and the ball started rolling again, referee David Ojeda signaled the end of the match. Colombia became champion of the tournament with a team of young players who once again fill a country with hope, a country that sees in them the best of its new generations.