James Rodriguez rounded off a convincing 3-0 win for Colombia against Greece as the South Americans made light of the absence of injured striker Radamel Falcao in their opening Group C match at the World Cup on Saturday.
Fullback Pablo Armero had given the Colombians, appearing at their first finals since 1998, the lead in the fifth minute while Teofilo Gutierrez’s 13th goal for his country shortly before the hour mark wrapped up the three points.
Rodriguez, nicknamed the ‘new kid’ as he is seen as the successor to legend Carlos Valderrama, known as ‘the kid’, rounded off an impressive performance with a sweet left footed shot in time added on.
Armero’s goal was the fastest in Colombia’s five appearances at a World Cup finals, beating the 19 minutes it took another defender, Francisco Zuluaga, to score against Uruguay in the 1962 finals in ChileIt took Colombia just five minutes to send their fans wild.
With Falcao watching from the stands, great work down the right by Juan Cuadrado outwitted the Greek defence and a step over by Gutierrez saw the ball come to Armero.
The 27-year-old fullback fired in a weak shot which took a deflection off a defender and past ‘keeper Orestis Karnezis.
