Carlos Valderrama could not contain his excitement.

Following the final whistle of Colombia’s 1-0 win over Senegal – which put his nation through to the second round of the World Cup for only the third time in its history – their greatest ever player danced out of the stadium, his hands raised towards the gods and his shock of blond hair bouncing in the evening sun.

After topping Group H, Los Cafeteros will now take on England and will be going all out to secure a place in the quarter-finals for the second World Cup in succession.

Valderrama, who made a record 111 appearances for his country, has been following the team throughout the tournament and so far he has had quite the ride.

First, there was the 2-1 defeat to Japan, in which Colombia played 87 minutes with 10 men. Then came the magnificent 3-0 win over Poland. And finally, that nail-biting encounter with a well-organised, talented, but ultimately unlucky Senegal.

Each of the games followed its own script, but Valderrama, along with the thousands of noisy Colombians who have travelled to Russia, would have taken positives from all of them.

In their first outing, despite having Carlos Sanchez sent off for handball after just 3 minutes and conceding the consequent spot kick, Colombia showed spirit to fight back before eventually succumbing to Japan’s numerical advantage. In their last game against Senegal, too, Colombia indicated that even when they are under pressure, they have the necessary quality to win.

By far the most pleasing performance, however, came in the second group game, as they beat Poland convincingly in Kazan. It was a thrilling, fast-flowing display that demonstrated all of Colombia’s strengths in attack and defence, and in particular the importance of two impressive partnerships.

Defensive Dominance

At the heart of Los Cafeteros’ back line, there is the unyielding duo of Yerry Mina and Davinson Sanchez. And in midfield, the double act that is the soul of all their attacks, Juan Fernando Quintero and James Rodriguez.

Harry Kane might have been the World Cup’s most proficient marksman in his first two games, netting five goals from just six shots, but he will have his work cut out if he is to get past Tottenham team-mate Sanchez and Barcelona centre-half Mina.

Sanchez is just 22 and Mina 23, making them the youngest defensive partnership in Russia, but when Jose Pekerman has deployed them together, Colombia have never lost.

The pair complement each other perfectly, Mina providing the physicality, aerial presence and ability to carry the ball forward whilst Sanchez offers pace and guile. That made the decision to opt for Pachuca defender Oscar Murillo over Mina in the first game seem a little odd, despite the limited playing time the 23-year-old has had since his arrival at Barcelona in January.

Mina was reintroduced for the Poland match, however, and as well as dealing adeptly with Robert Lewandowski, he headed the vital first goal that set the men in yellow on their way to victory. “We knew it was going to be a very difficult game”, Valderrama told reporters afterwards, “because the team who scored first was going to get an advantage.”

Mina repeated the feat against Senegal to give his side the win, so one would imagine that Gareth Southgate will now be busy devising a plan to deal with his threat from set pieces. At 6’5”, and with a gazelle-like ability to leap off the ground, it may be necessary to designate two men to mark Mina from corners and free-kicks.

The cross for the first of Mina’s two goals came from James Rodriguez and for the second, from Juan Quintero. The pair have already notched two assists apiece in Russia and England will need to prevent them from supplying bullets for the likes of Mina, Juan Cuadrado, and Radamel Falcao if they are to stand any chance of progressing.

Rodriguez, top-scorer in Brazil at the last World Cup, and Quintero, his back-up at that tournament, have, to differing degrees, been through testing times since.

James’ move to Real Madrid did not work out, though he did recover some form for Bayern Munich this year. Quintero, on the other hand, came close to quitting football for a career in music after falling out of love with the game and putting on weight during his time with Porto. Having got some playing time on loan at River Plate in Argentina since January, though, he too is back somewhere near his best.

The two inventive midfielders are a long way from Mina and Sanchez in physical stature, but like their defensive colleagues, they combined to beautiful effect in the game against Poland. When the two are in full flow, pulling the strings and dictating play in tandem, it is an exhilarating, giddying sight.

For the first goal in that game, James worked a lovely short corner routine to Quintero, who played the ball back to the Bayern man for him to put a pinpoint cross onto Mina’s head. For the second, Quintero played a delicious, defence-splitting pass to Radamel Falcao. And to wrap things up, James waved his wand of a left foot to put Cuadrado through one-on-one with the ‘keeper.

Valderrama, himself a master of the killer through-ball, would have been gazing on with pride.
Add to that Quintero’s inventiveness at free-kicks – his under-the-wall effort against Japan being a case in point – and James’ ability to shoot from distance and you have plenty for Jordan Henderson to worry about. If the other midfielders do not offer sufficient defensive assistance, the Liverpool man could find himself overrun trying to protect the back three.

Injury Woe

The biggest concern for Colombia is that Rodriguez will not be fit enough to start the next game.

He came off injured after 30 minutes in the win over Senegal and afterward, Pekerman told the press that, “I'm worried about James. It's very hard for the team this situation, it's not comfortable at all. In the last training session, there was no indication that anything was wrong, from then on I don’t know what happened.”

The other worry for Southgate and Steve Holland going into this game is the space that Cuadrado was able to find down the sides of Poland’s three-man defence to latch onto the service provided by the two playmakers.

The system deployed by Adam Nawalka in that game was fairly similar to the one used by England, so Ashley Young may need to stay back to help his centre-backs to deal with the danger that the Juventus winger provides.

By fielding a weakened team against Belgium and coming second in the group, many fans will feel that the Three Lions have given themselves an easier path to the latter stages of the tournament. Colombia, however, will believe that they can do enough to send Valderrama home dancing for joy once more.

It could well be that the easy side of the draw is not so easy after all.