Poland 0 Colombia 3: Radamel Falcao and Juan Cuadrado keep Group H wide open; Robert Lewandowski's World Cup ends

1/36
Tom Doyle24 June 2018

Goals from Radamel Falcao, Juan Cuadrado and Yerry Mina earned Colombia a deserved 3-0 win over Poland to keep Group H wide open at the World Cup.

Mina headed home from a well-worked corner routine in the first half before Falcao struck a clinical finish after the break to ensure Colombia's World Cup lasts until at least the final group-stage game.

The result means Poland - who failed to get star man Robert Lewandowski into the game - are heading home after just two games, having initially tipped as one of the tournament's potential dark horses.

Both sides knew defeat would spell the end of their World Cup hopes, but it was the South Americans who made all the running and deserved the lead given them in the 40th minute by Mina, who rose to head home a clever cross by James Rodriguez.

Falcao scored his first career World Cup goal in the 70th minute on a through ball from Juan Quintero: the Colombian captain beat the offside trap and Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to double the lead.

Minutes after Falcao's finish, Poland gave the ball away in midfield and former Chelsea winger Cuadrado timed his shot perfectly and beat Szczesny with 15 minutes left.

Poland, beaten 2-1 by Senegal in their first game, offered little, with Lewandowski anonymous, and are heading out of the tournament.

Colombia, meanwhile, will likely have to beat Senegal in their final group game, but may go through with a draw if Poland manage to beat Japan.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in