Colombia seek ‘decisive’ win over Senegal

SAMARA, Russia: Jose Pekerman has refused to entertain the prospect of seeing Colombia’s stuttering World Cup campaign end with their final Group H clash against Senegal on Thursday.

Despite following a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Japan with a decisive 3-0 win over Poland, Colombia need to beat the on-form Africans in Samara if they are to avoid what would be seen as an embarrassing exit. “We came here for more, so it wouldn’t be a good result for us not to reach the second round,” Pekerman said. Elimination “isn’t something we’re even considering,” he added. After years of struggling to progress to the latter stages, James Rodriguez’s tournament-topping six goals steered Colombia to their best ever finish of the quarter-finals in Brazil four years ago.

But with only three points to their name in Russia, anything less than a win against Aliou Cisse’s Senegal side would see ‘Los Cafeteros’ (Coffee Makers) exit the tournament. Colombia failed to qualify from 2002 to 2010, and their previous two campaigns, in 1998 and 1994, ended at the first hurdle. Pekerman, an Argentine who coached his native country at the 2006 World Cup, produced a tactical masterstroke against the Poles when he aligned left-footed Juan Quintero and Rodriguez in a three-man midfield to devastating effect.