Campaz seals Colombia’s 3-1 World Cup win over Uzbekistan

Jáminton Campaz’s 99th-minute header did more than finish Uzbekistan. It turned Colombia’s opening World Cup win into a sharper statement: a two-goal margin, a healthier goal difference and an early grip on Group K. The substitute’s late strike capped a 3-1 result at Mexico City Stadium in Ciudad de México, where Colombia looked composed enough to leave little doubt about who controlled the night.

Daniel Muñoz put Colombia ahead in the 40th minute, and Luis Díaz doubled the advantage after halftime in the 65th. Uzbekistan, playing its first match in a World Cup, briefly made the contest uneasy when Fayzullaev scored in the 60th minute, but Campaz answered from the bench with a stoppage-time header that sealed the result and pushed the scoreline from useful to emphatic.

That last goal mattered because World Cup group stages are often decided by fine margins long before the final standings are written. A 2-1 opening win would have given Colombia three points, but Campaz’s finish added insurance in goal difference, the kind of detail that can separate first place from second place when a group includes Portugal and the Republic of the Congo. It also underlined the value of Colombia’s bench, with a substitute delivering the decisive late blow after the starters had already set the platform.

FIFA named Luis Díaz the Player of the Match, a fitting reflection of his influence in a game Colombia largely managed on the front foot. The numbers matched the feeling inside the stadium: Colombia held 61.5 percent possession and produced 15 shot attempts, enough to keep Uzbekistan under steady pressure even after the Central Asian side found a second-half response.

The win also carried historical weight for Colombia. It was the country’s seventh World Cup appearance and its first after missing Qatar 2022, and it ended a stubborn opening-day pattern. Colombia had lost four of its previous six World Cup openers, including the defeat to Japan in 2018, so this start broke a tendency that had too often left the team chasing from the outset.

Néstor Lorenzo had urged caution before kickoff, warning against underestimating Uzbekistan, and the result backed up that judgment. Colombia still showed room to improve, but Campaz’s late header delivered something more valuable than style points: evidence that this squad could finish the job when the match was already won in principle, and then make it count in the group table as well.