World Cup NOW: The importance of Colombia's win over Jamaica
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup continued Tuesday with Colombia taking down Jamaica in the round of 16 at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Australia.
After a scoreless first half, Catalina Usme broke the scoreless tie in the 51st minute when she controlled a cross in the box before firing off a shot to give Colombia a 1-0 lead. The goal was the first Jamaica allowed in the tournament, and it ended up being the last as Jamaica couldn't prevail on the press it made in the final minutes of the match.
With the win, Colombia moves on to the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup and will take on England at 6:30 a.m. ET Saturday (FOX and the FOX Sports app).
The "World Cup NOW" crew — Jimmy Conrad, Melissa Ortiz, Leslie Osborne, Karina LeBlanc and Freya Coombe — broke down Colombia's breakthrough, which was special for Ortiz, who used to play for its international team. Battling through emotions, she explained why Colombia's win was so special on Tuesday.
Colombia vs. Jamaica postgame recap
Ortiz: "It's history in the making. Watching these players celebrate this history, it's representing CONMEBOL and being the only CONMEBOL team [remaining] is massive. I'm just thinking about everything we've gone through as a country as women. Like, this isn't just about the women's soccer team. This is about all women in Colombia and South America.
"I remember when my teammate and I, Isabella Echeverri, we started this movement to fight against our federation to ask for better standards, to ask to get our flights paid for, to have our own equipment, to have our own facilities. Everything, you name it. We literally took the federation down. If it wasn't for doing that, they wouldn't be here. … In doing that back then, it uproared women in general. It really did."
As for what happened in the match, the panel was impressed by Colombia's defense as they gave a light look ahead to its quarterfinal matchup with England.
LeBlanc: "Every single time Bunny Shaw was on the ball, there were two, three Colombians around her making sure she didn't get anything in and doing the smart, tactical fouls. Everything usually goes through Bunny Shaw, but also through [Drew] Spence in the middle. Every time Spence … there were one or two players around her to make sure she couldn't create any kind of attack. Give credit to Colombia. They were dominant on the defensive side and on the attacking side."
Colombia vs. Jamaica Highlights | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
Osborne: "I thought Jamaica had more of the opportunities and had a much better second half than they did first half. I thought they won the ball back faster. I thought they were going fast with numbers and getting the ball out wide. They had several chances. I thought in the first half, they were poor. But Jamaica should be very proud of their performance."
Conrad: "I don't think [Colombia is] going to worry about England right now. They're going to celebrate this big win over Jamaica tonight. But, maybe a Colombia team you wouldn't want to face now that your Lionesses know who they're going to face, Freya."
Coombe: "For sure. I said before the game that I wanted to face Jamaica. I'd rather face them in the next round because I felt they were an opponent we would struggle with less. I think this Colombia team is really good. When they're on the ball, they're skillful players. But they move the ball well and they have class goals. The touch and the finish today from that goal was absolutely brilliant. I think it's going to be a good game and I'm looking forward to the banter."
