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Colombia defeated Ghana 1-0 in the Round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup on Friday, July 3 at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and advances to the Round of 16 of the tournament.
The only goal of the match came in the 14th minute, scored by Juan Fernando Arias, in a play that had an interesting background: just two minutes earlier, in the 12th minute, Arias had received a yellow card. The Colombian midfielder responded with the goal that would determine the outcome of the game.
The match also had a moment of tension in the 56th minute when Luis Díaz scored what would have been Colombia's second goal, but the VAR disallowed the goal for offside, leaving the score unchanged.
The Colombian dominance was reflected in the : 61% possession compared to 39% for Ghana, 16 shots against eight, and six shots on target with none from the Africans. Ghana did not trouble the Colombian goalkeeper at any moment.
Regarding the cards, Ghana received three yellow cards—Yirenkyi (min. 49), Fatawu (min. 66), and Seidu (min. 76)—while Colombia had two: Arias (min. 12) and Ríos (min. 78).
The match also saw an early change for Colombia: in the eighth minute, J. Córdoba was substituted for L. Suárez, indicating an active role for coach Néstor Lorenzo throughout the 90 minutes.
With this victory, Colombia confirms its status as the favorite in the tournament. The coffee growers entered this match as group leaders of Group K with 7 points, after defeating Uzbekistan (3-1) and the Congo (1-0), in addition to drawing with Portugal without goals. Ghana, for its part, qualified as the third-best third place in Group L with four points, behind England and Croatia.
It was also the first official A-category match between both teams in the history of football.
Ghana is eliminated from the 2026 World Cup, while Colombia will face Switzerland in the round of 16 on Tuesday, July 7, in Vancouver. The Swiss advanced to this round after defeating Algeria 2-0 with goals from Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye.
“Colombia has completed the full set of South American teams in the round of 16: all four advanced. The three from North America also won. From Europe, six moved on to the quarter-finals. And out of the nine African teams, six were eliminated and three advanced. Colombia is doing well. But it knows, or feels, that it can be better,” wrote Andrés Burgo in El País.
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