The worst fears of Colombian national team fans were realized on Thursday with the news that star forward Radamel Falcao will miss the 2014 World Cup with a torn ACL.
The AS Monaco striker suffered the injury in a fourth-round Coupe De France match against fourth-division side Chasselay on Wednesday, with an ugly tackle from behind doing the damage.
Falcao’s injury is a crushing blow to Colombia’s World Cup hopes. Considered a leading contender to go far in the tournament, Colombia will now have to make due without its leading player.
The injury could create an opportunity for former Seattle Sounders forward Fredy Montero, who is on the fringes of the Colombian national team forward conversation, but a stellar season with Portuguese side Sporting CP has boosted his profile and could lead Colombian head coach Jose Pekerman to consider him among a stable of forwards that includes Porto star Jackson Martinez, River Plate’s Teofilo Gutierrez and Sevilla forward Carlos Bacca.
What do you think of Colombia’s World Cup chances now? See the ‘Cafeteros’ posing a threat? Still see them advancing out of their group?
Share your thoughts below.
Why was he playing against a fourth division team? Monaco should know better. Stupid decision to play him…
Just another reason to hate the French.
Dammmmnn.
This is such rotten news. I was really looking forward to seeing him this summer. Shame…
If one of you following Montero at Sporting could summarize his experience and numbers thus far, please do.
Oooh, Rock me Amadeus!
This sucks, really bad for not only Colombia but for the World Cup in general
Word on the street is that the player committing the rash tackle on Falcao was a recent transfer from the Bundesliga. Sources tell me the name is Timoteo Chandlerinho
That defender and the referee should both get long suspensions.
What is the deal with the ACL? Is it just me or is this type of injury more prevalent nowadays?
You can correct me if I’m wrong, but in the old days an ACL injury would just be a career-ending injury. Nowadays the injury might actually be healed.
This is terrible news for a star like Falcao, but Colombia is far from doomed. They have great talent up top. Let’s cross our fingers for our U.S. players.
from Final Four material to barely making it outta group play….
They should still be fine in group play (Greece, ivory coast, japan) but second round can they top Uruguay, England or Italy?
Hate the preWC injuries! Owell opens the door for someone new
I won’t claim to be an expert on the Columbian talent pool, but with Falcao, you had to think they were a dark horse to win the World Cup. Now you have to wonder if someone can spring an upset on them in the group stage that may see them bow out early. Really is a shame that a player of his calibre won’t be there to represent his country.
Yeah…. Belgium is more of a dark horse, also portugal
Victor Ibarbo is another option.
was wondering why no one mentioned him…
The tackle that caused the injury wasn’t even deemed a foul by the idiot referee. Why is that not mentioned?
What a shame to miss colombias first world cup since 1998, and he was in the prime of his career…
Ahhhh, what a killer. I still have hope for Colombia, but that is a big blow. I am not looking forward to seeing my Colombian friends at pick-up tonight.
What a slap in the face for Falcao – fourth division side, won 3-0, didn’t even get a penalty called on the play. Rough day.
Would you feel better if this happened in training like it did to Gonzo?
Oh well, I hope Colombia makes the semis. That country deserves some good news. I’ll be cheering for them. They’ll be my second team after the U.S.A. Belgium my third! Viva Falcao y Colombia!
What a shame. There are always players who miss the world cup due to injury, hopefully it’s as few as possible this time. Hopefully Falcao makes a full and speedy recovery.
Adrian Ramos would be another option for Colombia
He has been lighting it up in the Bundesliga. If I remember correctly anyway.
This sucks on so many levels. I was really looking forward to seeing on of the best strikers in the world showcase his talents at the world cup. Its a shame a nobody took him out. He is one of my favorite players and I will just it at that before I say something I regret.
Hopefully Colombia qualifies for 2018 and he has one more shot, he’s only 27… big shame though.
He and Walcott can sit in the stands and cheer their teams on. Such suckage personally for both of them, and their sides.
Sami Khedira too.. unless he makes an amazing recovery. I think Walcott could be a big loss for England, he had been in good form.
Especially hurts against a fourth division side.
Begs the question- why was he playing against a fourth division team?
He had been out injured and his coach was giving him an opportunity to get game fit. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just bad luck.
This sucks.
Der Kommissar’s in town…..oh, other Falcao.
Luis Muriel is so way ahead of Freddy Montero I dont even know how he got on the list with Jackson Martinez. Colombia is deep at forward and theres no shame of him being on the outside looking in.
They can still win cause the world cup will be in South America and home cooking can never be discounted, they are no longer everyones favorite darkhorse though, Belgium has owned that spot.
Colombia has an advantage by being familiar with Brazil during qualifying and so forth but there is no home cooking here, Brazil is Brazil and Colombia is Colombia, Home cooking would only be if it were held in Colombia.I go to Colombia every year, Brazilians could care less about Colombia, Argentina.Chile. etc.
Home cooking in the sense that the stands will be packed with colombians. I cant imagine that the stadium wont look like a home stadium with them playing against anyone other than a fellow south american team.
Yes, there will be many Colombians
Belgium may win one knock out game, but no more than that. None of their players have WC experience and teams like that in the past have under performed, no matter their talent.
What a huge bummer, not just for Colombians but for soccer fans in general. Hard to see Colombia advancing without him. Sad stuff. That tackle was straight bush league. Dude should be suspended or something.
They have quite a few good strikers but good is a big drop down from super amazing.
Colombia have an array of attacking talent. While Falcao is a great club striker, he’s poor for country. My wife is Colombian and we watch all the games. He’s arrogant and a number of Colombians wanted him benched.
Agreed, They do have an array of attacking talent.
Why do Colombians speak Spanish with that up and down accent? Sort of like Indian people speaking English.
Not everybody speaks like that. It depends on the department or even the city in which one grows up. The accents from department to department can be so different; it is as if you were in another county sometimes, and even verb conjugations can change like in Antioquia using vos instead of tĂș. There are so many different accents: Caribbean, Valluno, Santandarean, Andean,Paisa, Rolo etc.
I heard that Flacao basically is useless outside of the Box. As in he doesn’t contribute to build up play very well. So he kinda ruins their team-shape. That contributed to the fact that they have old/not that great defenders.
I’ve heard none of this talk from the club POV. In fact he’s been hailed by a journalist in WFD to be an extremely valuable and hard worker. I for one am just bummed for him and Colombia.