Colombia sent Poland packing from the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 victory in a Group H match at the Kazan Arena on Sunday.
The loss signalled the end of Poland’s hopes of qualification for the last 16 after two losses from their opening two matches, while the Colombians enter the final round of group matches, against Senegal, with their fate in their own hands.
Colombia created the first chance of the match on Sunday when James Rodriguez found himself in space on the edge of the box, but his powerfully struck shot was superbly saved by the Polish keeper.
On the half-hour mark, Colombia suffered a setback when Abel Aguilar had to leave the field injured and was replaced by Mateus Uribe.
Nonetheless, Colombia continued to push forward and took the lead five minutes before the break when Yerry Mina met a cross from Rodriguez to send home a strong header to make it 1-0.
Poland went in search of an equaliser before the break, but they did not really feature in the first half as they went into the break trailing by a goal.
Poland started the second half a much better side and almost levelled matters on the hour mark when Robert Lewandowski showed great skill inside the box to bring a lofted cross under control before seeing his shot from 14 yards well-stopped by the Colombian keeper.
The South Americans, though, doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Radamel Falcao showed great strength to win the ball on the edge of the box before firing into the corner of the net, 2-0.
In the 75th minute, the match was over as a contest when Rodriguez played Radamel Falcao through on goal and he made no mistake with just the Polish keeper to beat, 3-0.
The Europeans tried to fight their way back and threw players forward in the final 15 minutes, but they were unable to find any consolation as the match ended 3-0 in favour of the Colombians.
The win for Colombia sees them on three points in Group H, placed third behind Japan and Senegal, who have four points each.
