Colombia v Poland player ratings

Following shock losses in their opening games the pressure was on Colombia and Poland to get their World Cup campaigns back on track.

Poland started strongly, asking questions of the Colombian defence in the first ten minutes.

Unfortunately for Poland the response was swift, with Colombia settling on the ball and going on to dominate the rest of the match.

James Rodriguez celebrated being back in the starting line up by setting up Yerry Mina to give Colombia the lead at the break.

The second half saw the South Americans back at their best, securing the result with two goals in five minutes to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

Colombia

David Ospina- 7.5

Started the game with an injury scare but played on and added a clean sheet to his record.

Santiago Arias- 7

Used his speed to intercept passes and punish any players caught flat-footed.

Davinson Sánchez- 7

His defensive play was not always stylish with a few wild clearances but it was effective in keeping the ball away from Lewandowski.

Yerry Mina- 7.5

Made no mistakes in front of goal, leaping well above his opponents to score the opener.

Abel Aguilar- 6

Injury forced him from the field after 30 minutes.

Wilmar Barrios- 8

Worked well both on and off the ball with short sharp passes, sending Rodriguez and Quintero into space.

Johan Mojica- 8.5

Held the ball up to give his teammates time to surge forward. His footwork caused all sorts of problems for Poland.

Juan Cuadrado- 9

Appeared to cover the entire right hand side of the field with overlapping runs which created opportunity after opportunity for his team-mates. Sealed a Colombian victory with a goal in the 75^th minute.

James Rodriguez- 8.5

Was relatively quiet at the start of the game but looked promising whenever he did get the ball. Fired in the cross that resulted in Mina’s goal and proved impossible for the Polish defence to contain in the second half.

Juan Quintero - 9.5

Looked dangerous from his first touch, easily cutting through the Polish defence. Combined well with Rodriguez and set Falcao up beautifully. He was one of the best on the field.

Radamel Falcao - 9

Never gave up, often catching the defence out as they tried to shield the ball over the sideline. He was rewarded with a goal.

Subs

Mateus Uribe- 7

Got involved very quickly working the ball across the field to fully utilise the width of the pitch.

Jefferson Lerma- 6

Applied even more pressure to an already strained Polish defence by playing higher up and compressing the field.

Carlos Bacca- 6

Came on in the 78^th minute but didn’t give Poland any great cause for concern.

Poland

Wojciech Szczesny- 5

Had a tough day at the office, with two of the Colombian goals coming from one-on-one situations.

Lukasz Piszczek- 6.5

Often had the unenviable task of marking Rodriguez. The defender managed to limit his impact but not shut him out of the game completely.

Jan Bednarek- 6.5

Tried to sit deeper in defence and slow the ball down whenever it was passed back but was caught out of position, leaving a gap in the back line that Cuadrado took full advantage of.

Michal Pazdan- 7

Managed to get a foot in at just the right time to prevent a Colombia break away but was unable to contain their attackers for the full 90 minutes.

Maciej Rybus- 5

A quiet game. Rybus saw little of the ball, especially in the second half.

Jacek Goralski- 5

Got drawn out of the centre, playing too close to Krychowiak which limited the space they had to work in.

Grzegorz Krychowiak- 4.5

Never looked settled on the ball and didn’t provide many quality balls to his strikers.

Piotr Zielinski- 6

Pushed forward on the counter. Got back to defend as well but was punished by the Colombian defence for spending too long on the ball.

Bartosz Bereszynski- 6.5

Started off strongly but faded during the game, getting caught flat-footed during the second half.

Dawid Kownacki- 5.5

Struggled to create chances upfront and was replaced after 57 minutes of play.

Robert Lewandowski- 6

There was a lot of pressure on the number nine coming into this game. He was more involved than in the game against Senegal but wasn’t able to create any chances for himself.