Colombia 2-0 South Korea: attacking masterclass launches South Americans’ campaign | Women's World Cup 2023

Leaving with this appeal …

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If you’re going to be awake over the next few hours, please come back for more commentary and reports from Australia and New Zealand. In any case, thanks for following along with this fascinating if somewhat one-sided game. See you next time.

Reminder of the stakes here: If the rest of this group goes to form, with Germany winning its next two games and Morocco losing both, the winner here advances as the second-place team in the group.

I’m not even sure Germany beats Colombia all that easily. This was a master class in pushing the ball into the final third, winning all the midfield battles and disrupting anything South Korea attempted.

On the bright side for South Korea, Peter Oh says, “At least Korea is certain to earn the Phair Play award.”

We can’t end with that, can we? Let’s see what else we have …

Ah, here we go … John Cartmell starts our conversation on crop rotation. “For us, it’s alternating beans and corn. (Soybeans and feed corn, to be precise.) Go Hoosiers! Plenty of soccer in Indiana.”

OK, we’ll pick up from there when I’m next on duty, which I believe is during the USA-Netherlands grudge match. Unless the Netherlands can raise their level a good bit from their opening game, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about crop rotation.

Before offering a final thought on the game, I’ll pass along one more thought on the “Not Mexican” Wave, this from Eric Moberg: “Responding to Alan, the wave may have come to the Detroit Tigers in part from the nearby 100,000+ seat University of Michigan stadium which features an impressive wave to this day. This article shows that even in 1983 when it had its Michigan debut “that stupid display” was controversial, even leading to threats of firing.”

One of the reasons I love this gig is that Guardian readers are masters of the arcane. I think we’ll spend part of the USA-Netherlands game talking about crop rotation.

Fears that Colombia was going to get out on the field and wreak more mayhem than the guy in the insurance ads have proved to be unfounded. The South Americans took a deserved 1-0 lead on a well-taken penalty from the veteran star Usme, then took a slightly fluky 2-0 lead on a goalkeeping howler off a shot from their prodigy Caicedo.

What happened next was the most impressive part. Up 2-0, they allowed South Korea to do absolutely nothing. OK, one half-decent chance at the very end of the first half. But that’s it. Throughout the second half, Colombia looked like the most likely team to score, and that kept South Korea far away from anywhere dangerous.

90 +4 mins: Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. So says the quote from the great film Bull Durham, and no, it wasn’t referring to the Ashes.

It’s just one of those days for South Korea. Since Colombia took the lead on the Usme penalty, South Korea has just never looked like anything was going to come together for them.

A turnover puts Colombia off to the races, but Usme’s indecision is costly.

90 +3 mins: Ramirez deserves a goal, and that was a good effort from the top of the box. Yoon atones for her error, cleanly snaring the ball.

90 +2 mins: I can’t remember the last time any South Korean attackers completed a meaningful pass. There’s a lot of hitting and hoping, punctuated by the occasional quixotic one-woman run.

90 +1 mins: FIVE minutes of stoppage time? I would’ve figured at least seven.

89 mins: We’ve reached the point in the game in which every Colombian player who picks up a slight bruise is going to stay down on the field long enough to take a nap. This team has played beautifully, but they can still delve into the Dark Arts.

88 mins: Diana Ospina comes on, seeing action in her third World Cup. Moon Mi-Ra is on for South Korea.

86 mins: Montoya and Vanegas are both down. Welch allows play to continue because Colombia still has the ball, and if they want to play it out to tend to their players, go ahead. Ramirez goes 1v4 and is moderately successful, but Welch eventually decides to blow the whistle.

84 mins: Full credit to Colombia for recognizing that the best defense is a good offense. They just aren’t letting South Korea have any sort of regular possession within 80 yards of the goal, and no South Korean player is going to score from 80 yards out.

83 mins: Phair nearly became the youngest Women’s World Cup player to concede a penalty kick. She manages to get a head to ball before wiping out a Colombian player.

81 mins: That was disappointing from Caicedo. Great cross from Ramirez, dummied by a player running in the center, and the phenom has the ball and acres of space 20 yards away. She takes a touch in toward the recovering South Korean defense and can only get a corner kick that comes to naught.

79 mins: Never stop playing the ball in expectation of getting a handball call. The average soccer player has no idea what referees are actually looking for before they blow the whistle. With the ball near the top of the South Korean box, Colombia basically stops playing and looks for a call. Thus endeth the attack.

The New Jersey teen enters the game for South Korea. She’s the youngest player ever in a Women’s World Cup game – 16 years and 26 days.

77 mins: South Korea blasts a cross from the right flank, looking for Park, but Perez gets it.

75 mins: We have drums, we have metallic clangs, we have chants … this venue is on the smaller side, but it’s rocking.

Restrepo replaces Santos for Colombia.

72 mins: South Korea earns a succession of throw-ins, moving the ball forward bit by bit.

Colombia regains possession on a trivial bump right in front of the AR, who raises a flag and gets the soft foul called.

Anyone who tells you there’s no diving and flopping in women’s soccer either (A) is stretching the truth or (B) doesn’t watch women’s soccer.

70 mins: Lee charges into the heart of Colombian defense and draws contact. South Korea tries to take the kick quickly, but Welch makes them bring in back.

Ji’s free kick drops into the box and causes Colombia a nervous moment or two.

But now it’s out on the left to Caicedo. She leaves it to Usme to shoot, but the shot is blasted straight at a defender.

68 mins: At last, substitutions. Park Eun-Sun, the 6-foot forward, comes in with … Rimbappé!

67 mins: Ramirez gets judo-tossed near midfield. Another free kick. Partially cleared, but Bedoya surges forward with the ball and unleashes a shot that slams into the South Korean defense.

66 mins: Still no subs for either team. US men’s supporters are surely shuddering at the thought of all the times Gregg Berhalter left his bench players on the bench late in a match.

65 mins: Ji’s free kick floats to the far post and takes an eternity to get there. The Colombian defense has little trouble getting the ball out.

64 mins: South Korea earns a free kick. The replay shows that Welch might have been fooled on that one. The English ref has done well with this game, tough.

61 mins: CHANCE as crosses just keep flying into the South Korean box. Ramirez heads just wide.

60 mins: A South Korean counterattack bogs down, and then a very long hopeful ball lands safely in Perez’s hands.

Colin Bell has to be considering some changes.

58 mins: Caicedo draws yet another foul. At some point, we may see a yellow card for all this.

The free kick from just inside the South Korean half bounds over the massed players and then causes some concern for Yoon in goal. South Korea still looks more likely to concede a third than they do to score a first.

55 mins: Colombia is simply pinning South Korea in its own half like the dog herding sheep in those viral videos of a dog herding sheep. Nothing particularly dangerous, but while I’m no tactical wizard, I think South Korea needs to get the ball to the other side of the field to score.

A quick reminder: Want to get a weekly newsletter on European (and sometimes US) soccer from one of the world’s best writers on the global game? Then sign up for Jonathan’s Wilson’s email. Oh, and it’s free too.

51 mins: Carolina Arias flirts with a second yellow card in a particularly careless challenge. Dropping to 11v10 would certainly make the next 40 minutes interesting.

49 mins: Nice backheel by Lee, but it’s intercepted. Improved possession here from South Korea, at least.

47 mins: A brief bit of possession for South Korea to start the half, but then we’re back at the other end.

Alan Terlep seeks some credit for Detroit when it comes to the Wave: “While “The Wave” dates back to 1981, it first gained national attention in the US in 1984, when Detroit Tigers fans (baseball) started it during the Tigers’ run to winning the World Series (their last victory BTW). A New York Times article from 1984 notes the connection.”

We’ll see if we get more waves in the second half, which has kicked off.

The irony of Yoon’s howler is that I had just been thinking before this game about women’s soccer goalkeeping and how much it’s improved. Obviously, I need to stop thinking. I’m only doing harm.

Steve Taylor writes to say our stats say South Korea has 2 percent of the possession. That is most definitely not correct. I’ll ping someone to see what’s up with that.

Halftime reading: Why the “Mexican wave” isn’t Mexican.

British reporters weren’t aware of it until the 1986 World Cup, hence the attribution to Mexico.

South Korea looked terrific for 15 minutes. But when Colombia got rolling, they just tore the South Korean defense to shreds.

What will Colin Bell, the Englishman in charge of the South Korean team, change at the half?

45 +9 mins: CHANCE for South Korea, with Choe brilliantly slicing through defenders and chipping the ball into the box for Lee, whose header is well saved by Perez. The Colombian keeper was certainly more alert than the defense there. Nearly a costly lapse in concentration.

The ensuing corner comes to naught.

45 +6 mins: Yellow to Carolina Arias in a strange sequence involving a brilliant evasion of a South Korean slide tackle and then a hand to the face that referee Rebecca Welch ignored at first but then punished.

And now yellow to Lim, who knocked her feet into Usme’s, but you’d have to Usme did a rather poor Neymar impression to sell that one.

Welch, though, has been a significant improvement over officials we’ve seen in other matches here.

45 +5 mins: South Korea strings together some passes before going back to playing direct. There’s a difference, though, between “direct” and “impatient,” and they’re just not able to get the ball in a dangerous space.

45 +2 mins: Caicedo pursues and dispossesses a hapless South Korean opponent, but she’s a little careless with the ball after that.

Vanegas, still adjusting her head bandage, wins a free kick in her own half with … let’s say “minimal contact.”

She decides to discard her big head wrap.

45 mins: TEN minutes of stoppage time? TEN? Yes, we had a couple of stoppages for head injuries, along with two goals, but TEN?

44 mins: Another clash of heads, and Vanegas is getting a crown made of gauze.

Peter Oh once again: “The most talked-about subs of these two teams are arguably (My) Phair Lady.”

Will we see the US high school student in the second half?