Colombia needed a second-half goal to sink Japan 1-0 and end their journey in the Fifa Women’s World Cup at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Tuesday.
Catalina Usme scored what turned out to be the winner in the 51st minute after rounding up goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer to slam the ball to an empty. It was Colombia, who had the upper hand in the opening exchanges, and they should have gone ahead with only six minutes played when Linda Caicedo set up Usme, but the latter’s weak effort was well handled by Spencer.
Jamaica came back looking for the opener and in the 23rd minute, Khadija Shaw combined well with Trudi Carter from the middle of play and the ball reached the legs of Drew Spence, whose powerful drive from outside the box was punched out for a fruitless corner by Colombia’s Catalina Perez.
Read Also: FIFAWWC: Pedros confident Morocco can upset France
Colombia’s Daniela Arias was booked for a clumsy challenge as the game remained tight for each side and Jamaica should have taken the lead against the run of play when Carter hit the woodwork off a cross from Spence.
On resumption, the game remained balanced until the 51st minute when Usme took advantage of Jamaica’s mistakes at the back to slam home what turned out to be the winner of the day and earn Colombia a ticket to the quarter-finals of the 2023 tournament for the first time ever in history.