Daniel Munoz delivered the Itv win Colombia needed, striking in the second half to beat DR Congo 1-0 and clinch a place in the World Cup last 32. The result put Colombia top of Group K and turned their opening two matches into a complete start to the tournament.
Estadio Guadalajara pressure
At the Estadio Guadalajara, Colombia finished with 20 efforts on goal and kept pushing until Munoz found the only goal with 14 minutes remaining. The defender’s finish was his second goal of the tournament and the one that settled a match DR Congo had kept alive through long stretches of pressure.
45,358 were in attendance for a game that tightened only after Colombia had already taken control of the chances. DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi made five saves in the opening 20 minutes, a pace that only Warren Barrett had matched for Jamaica against Argentina at the FIFA World Cup in 1998.
Lionel Mpasi resists
Mpasi’s opening spell was the sharpest resistance Colombia faced. He stopped wave after wave of early efforts, and that was the reason the score remained level long enough for DR Congo to stay within reach before Munoz finally broke through.
Colombia’s win also matched a pattern they had only reached once before at a FIFA World Cup. They have won their first two matches for the second time, after doing the same in 2014, when they also reached their best finish, the quarter-final.
DR Congo and Uzbekistan
DR Congo are still alive, but only by a narrow route. They will join Colombia in the knockouts if they beat Uzbekistan on Sunday, and that leaves one result still sitting in front of them after the damage done by Munoz’s goal.
The shape of Group K is now set around Colombia’s place in the last 32 and DR Congo’s response to come. Munoz’s deflected second-half strike did more than decide a 1-0 scoreline; it forced DR Congo into a single-match answer against Uzbekistan.
