Radamel Falcao scored his first World Cup goal as Colombia got their tournament in Russia up and running with an impressive victory that ended a lacklustre Poland side\u2019s hopes of reaching the last 16.<\/p>\n
Yerry Mina nodded in James Rodriguez\u2019s cross shortly before half-time to put the South Americans ahead.<\/p>\n
Falcao, who missed the finals four years ago with injury, then broke through in the second half before driving a low strike into the far corner and Juan Cuadrado capped off a fine team performance with an accomplished finish after racing on to James\u2019 sublime ball behind the Poland defence.<\/p>\n
It was a much improved performance by Colombia following the disappointing 2-1 defeat by Japan in their Group H opener and will give their fans hope they can at least match their run to the quarter-finals in 2014.<\/p>\n
In contrast, this was another disappointing display by Poland, who lost to Senegal in their group opener.<\/p>\n
Robert Lewandowski, making his World Cup debut in Russia, struggled with a lack of service throughout, the Bayern Munich striker going closest in the final few minutes when a long-range effort was tipped over by David Ospina.<\/p>\n
Poland cannot now catch either Japan or Senegal, who have four points from two games. Colombia have three points and play Senegal on Thursday knowing victory could secure top spot.<\/p>\n
Russia 2018 is Poland\u2019s first World Cup finals appearance in 12 years, but rather than grasping the opportunity and making their mark, they went out with a whimper.<\/p>\n
Lewandowski scored an incredible 16 goals during qualifying \u2013 one more than Portugal\u2019s Cristiano Ronaldo \u2013 but he was unable to carry that form into the tournament.<\/p>\n
A change in formation may have contributed to that. Having frequently played 4-4-2 in qualifying Poland lined up 3-4-3 against Colombia and it was clearly a formation in which Lewandowski did not feel comfortable. He often found himself isolated and having to drop back into midfield to help build attacks.<\/p>\n
At 29, this may have been the Bayern Munich striker\u2019s last chance to make his mark at a World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Radamel Falcao scored his first World Cup goal as Colombia got their tournament in Russia up and running with an impressive victory that ended a lacklustre Poland side\u2019s hopes of reaching the last 16. Yerry Mina nodded in James Rodriguez\u2019s cross shortly before half-time to put the South Americans ahead. Falcao, who missed the finals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\n