Middle School Binationals week is coming up three weeks from now in Armenia, Quindío. The soccer team is getting ready to participate in the one-week long tournament. The trip starts on Monday, March 17. After a week of all-day sports including soccer, baseball, basketball, and volleyball, the teams return to Barranquilla on Sunday, March 23. KCP is taking five different teams to Gimnasio Ingles, the school hosting the event. These teams are boys’ soccer, basketball, and volleyball; and girls’ soccer, and volleyball. Boys and girls from sixth to eight grade are going. However, most of them are eight graders. The students attending the event are practicing every day from Monday to Thursday. They have been working on training and exercises made to prepare the team to win. They have also played friendly matches against different schools. Some of these schools are also going to Armenia. So far, the Middle School team has played two friendlies. In the next three weeks more friendlies will be played. All the different teams, boys and girls, are also working hard to prepare themselves for the big tournament.
We are here with Radamel Falcao Garcia, a Colombian soccer player born in Santa Marta. Falcao has played in world-class European teams like Atletico de Madrid and Porto. On January 23, Falcao suffered a severed knee injury in a match playing for his French team AS Monaco, and his chances of attending the World Cup 110 days from now are not good. Interviewer: Hi Falcao, let’s start with how are you feeling about your chances of going to the World Cup three months from now. RF: Hi, well, I think that anything could happen in the time that is left. The doctors tell me I have a chance of going so I have to believe in it. Interviewer: That match wasn’t very important, why did you play it? Did Coach Claudio Ranieri force you to play it? RF: Of course not. I decided it to play it because I had been a long time away of the fields and I needed a little playing time to completely recover my form. I like to play every match, even though it is against a third division team, like in this case. Interviewer: Aside from your injury, what do you think about Colombia’s progress as a team and its great performance in the South American Qualifiers? RF: The whole world has noticed that Colombia has great players and a great team, which have helped us reach our goal: qualify to the World Cup. Interviewer: What makes this team different from the previous ones? RF: I think that Colombia has always had excellent players, but I think that this time, the people are more motivated and aware that we are capable of making history together. Interviewer: What do you think about Colombia’s group in Brazil: Greece, Ivory Coast, and Japan? RF: I think that it is a very difficult group. These teams are very strong and have excellent player like Yaya Toure for Ivory Coast and Keisuke Honda for Japan, who are stars in their teams. Interviewer: What is Colombia’s objective for this World Cup? RF: Colombia is a great team, has excellent players with a bright future, and an amazing manager that has led us to Brazil, but it is a very inexperienced teams when it comes to World Cups. In the last tournaments Colombia’s best finish was Round of 16. I think that this team is
capable of doing better if we put a lot of dedication and effort into it. Interviewer: How do you feel about working with manager Jose Pekerman? RF: In this qualifiers he showed everybody what he is capable of as a manager. He united the team, more than it already was. He has brought great things to this country and he has more yet to offer in Brazil. Interviewer: Colombia has shown that they could compete fairly with European giants like Belgium and Holland in friendlies. Will it be the same against much bigger teams like Brazil and Spain? RF: We played really good in those two matches, winning one and tying the other, but the World Cup will be much harder. We have to prepare ourselves but mostly we have to be motivated and concentrated. Interviewer: Back to your injury, would you play in the World Cup with a not so completely recovered knee? RF: Depending on how much recovered is it. If it is a big risk, I prefer not playing and waiting for the next one in four years. It is hard, but I am strong enough to get through and I think that this team can be successful without me, too. Interviewer: Thank you for your time, Falcao, good luck and I hope to see you in Brazil. RF: Let’s see. It is all in God’s hands.
Colombia is getting ready to play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. For this occasion, Colombia has an amazing squad with promising, young players, as well as experienced ones. Colombian players are starting to gain attention from around the world in their teams, mostly Europeans, and the national team. Starting goalkeeper David Ospina showed all through the qualifiers that he is the right choice for this position, and substitute goalkeepers Camilo Vargas and Faryd Mondragon are in great form in the Colombian league. All the defenders, including Mario Yepes, Luis Perea, and Pablo Armero, are having good playing time that allows them to keep the fitness until June. Midfielders are the best Colombian players right now. James Rodriguez is constantly leading his team to victory with goals and assists. Juan Guillermo Cuadrado has eight goals this season so far. Fredy Guarin has become Internazionale Milano’s star player. Carlos Sanchez has started every game for Elche in the Spanish league. However, the most famous and known national team players are the forwards. Radamel Falcao, Colombia’s star suffered a severe knee injury and could lose the Cup. He believes in the possibility of attending. The fans are constantly motivating him to keep strong and get through this hard moment. Adrian Ramos is currently the top goalscorer of the German league. Carlos Bacca from Barranquilla can’t stop scoring with his Spanish team Sevilla. Teofilo Gutierrez is not going through a good moment of form in the Argentinian giant River Plate. Yesterday marked the 5th game without a goal from Jackson Martinez in FC Porto in Portugal. After winning against Belgium and tying against Netherlands, Colombia prepares for the friendly game against Tunez in March. Let’s see if Falcao gets to recover on time and who manager Jose Pekerman picks in his 23-player list. After all, Colombian football is going through a great moment and is ready to have a successful World Cup.
The World Cup Final Draw was held on December 6, 2013 in Bahia, Brazil. Everybody got to know who would be playing whom. Also, the schedule was revealed for the 32 qualified teams. Colombia, due to their excellent qualifiers, got themselves in the 5th place in the FIFA World Rankings. This means they were one of the eight seeds in the draw. Colombia was drawn with an easy group. Greece from UEFA (European Football Association), Japan from AFC (Asian Association), and Ivory Coast from CAF (Africa). The four teams will play each other. The two teams with most points will advance to the next round. Depending on the group position they finish, they will meet a harder or easier team in the next round. Colombia’s first game will be against Greece in June 14, two days after the opening match between Brazil and Croatia. The next game will be versus Ivory Coast five days later. The group C closes on June 24, with Colombia playing Japan. Colombia has a great chance of advancing to next round. They could even be first place. Even though Colombia might be better, the other teams have many star players. The best players are Konstantinos Mitroglou for Greece, Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba for Ivory Coast, and Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda, and Yuri Nagatomo for Japan. Colombia’s stars are Radamel Falcao Garcia and James Rodriguez. If Colombia ends up in the first place, they would meet whichever country finishes second in the group including England, Uruguay, Italy, and Costa Rica. If they end up in the second place, they would play against the first place team from the previous group.