The Conventional Playmaker

June 24th 2018, Colombia beat Poland 0-3 in a World Cup group stage tie, where Juan Quintero was excellent, playing disguised passes, combining with James Rodriguez. Eight years later to the day, Quintero impressed against DR Congo, once again showing off his creativity. For many years, Quintero has been the understudy to James in Colombia’s …

For 60 minutes, Ivory Coast were the better side in their match against Germany, leading 0-1 as a result. But as Germany made necessary substitutions, the game swung in the European sides favour. Denis Undav scored twice to seal a 2-1 comeback, in doing so highlighted what he is good at, and what Germany had …

Whereas Germany, and Argentina, were both praised for their close combination play in their opening group stage matches, there were often large gaps between Portugal’s players when they had the ball, which in this case, did not help in their attempts to break down a sturdy DR Congo defence, especially as the encounter went on. …