Goal drought ends

Colombia beats New Zealand 3-1 at Confed Cup

LYON, France (AP) -- Colombia snapped its 13-month scoring drought and rallied with second-half goals to beat New Zealand 3-1 on Friday to stay in contention in the Confederations Cup.

But Colombia only broke the deadlock after New Zealand's forward Chris Killen had been sent off in the 68th minute.

Defender Mario Yepes scored the go-ahead goal for the South American champions after 75 minutes with a spectacular bicycle kick and midfielder Giovanni Hernandez struck the insurance tally in the 85th.

New Zealand, 51st in the world rankings, had taken the lead after 27 minutes on midfielder Raf De Gregorio's fierce shot from outside the penalty area, and threatened to score a major upset until Jorge Lopez tied the score in the 58th.

Colombia had not scored in five games, since a May, 2002 2-1 loss to Mexico -- a total of 542 minutes.

"Many thought we were waiting to play our best soccer in the second half, but that's not the case," said Colombia coach Francisco Maturana.

"We could have had five, six more situations to score in the game. The best player on the field may have been the goalkeeper of New Zealand," he said, referring to Mike Utting.

After losing 1-0 France in its Group A opener, Colombia is now 1-1 and plays Japan for a place in the semifinals on Sunday. New Zealand fell to 0-2 and plays France next. Japan met defending champion France in the night game.

New Zealand made a couple of early deep runs, but Colombia had the first opportunity after 13 minutes. Hernandez took a free kick from 25 meters (yards) and slipped a short pass to Jairo Patino, who fired a right-foot shot only to see New Zealand goalkeeper Mike Utting make a fine save.

It was the first of many and Utting prevented the game from turning into a rout late in the game .

The All-Whites did not defend only, however, and in the 27th they stunned the Colombians.

Simon Elliot's free kick was headed out by Gerardo Bedoya, de Gregario pounced on the ball but completely mishit his shot. The ball, however, strangely stuck to his feet and his second effort was a masterpiece. Struck with the outside of his right foot, the ball sliced into the upper left corner of Oscar Cordoba's net.

"Looking back, we dropped back too much," de Gregario said. "In the second half we were drained. Up 1-0, you'd think we'd have some spirit, but we haven't really trained in it [heat]."

Colombia had trouble finding openings in the Kiwis' well-organized, disciplined and crowded defense. Victor Aristizabal threatened to break through in the 37th but was pulled down by his shirt by captain Ryan Nelsen at the edge of the area.

The Colombians got back into the match in the 58th. Lopez was left wide open and his shot from outside the area took a slight deflection off defender Danny Hay and beat Utting.

Defender and captain Ivan Cordoba got booked shortly after the equalizer, meaning he will miss his team's final Group A match against Japan, as well as forward Elson Becerra.

Killen was sent off in the 68th for hacking at Martinez. It stretched the tired New Zealanders even more.

Colombia nearly made the best of the man advantage in the 73rd, when Yepes of Nantes rose above the Kiwi defense to meet a corner, but his header rattled the crossbar.

Two minutes later, Yepes controlled the ball with his chest on the edge of the area after a Colombian free kick had bounced off the wall, then used a bicycle kick to drive the ball past Utting.

With five minutes left, Hernandez shot from the top of the box just inside Utting's right post to make it 3-1 and Utting made several tremendous saves in the finish of the match as the undermanned Kiwis ran out of gas.

"It's very difficult for us to play against Colombia with 10 men in these conditions," said New Zealand coach Mick Waitt. "The red card was the turning point."

Lineups:

Colombia: Oscar Cordoba; Ivan Cordoba, Mario Yepes, Elson Becerra, Victor Aristizabal, Giovanni Hernandez, Elkin Murillo (Arnulfo Valentierra, 45), Ruben Dario Velasquez (Jairo Patino, 7), Jorge Lopez, Gerardo Bedoya (Eudalio Arriaga, 77), Gonzalo Martinez.

New Zealand: Mike Utting; Duncan Oughton, Danny Hay, Ivan Vicelich, Chris Killen, Ryan Nelsen, Vaughan Coveny (Shane Smeltz, 83), Raf De Gregorio, Simon Elliot, Gerard Davis, Noah Hickey.

 

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