- Colombia’s unbeaten run reaches 25 games following their 3-0 win over Costa Rica at CONMEBOL Copa América™
- Los Cafeteros have excited the nation with excellent play and good results
After two matches at CONMEBOL Copa América™, Colombia has already secured a spot in the knockout rounds of the tournament and extended their unbeaten streak to 25 matches. The streak began back in March of 2022 when they defeated Bolivia 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier, but since then much has changed.
In June of 2022, Argentine Nestor Lorenzo was named the new head coach of Colombia after Los Cafeteros didn’t qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Inheriting a two game winning streak, Lorenzo has since helped his new team reach 25 straight games without a loss (20 wins, 5 draws). According to Opta, it's the second longest streak in the history of the national team, the longest coming between 1992-1994 over 27 games (13 wins, 14 draws).
Comparing this streak to the country’s record, makes the current all the more impressive. Twenty victories and only five draws highlights the quality that Colombia has shown over this stretch. Lorenzo’s team currently sit third in the CONMEBOL 2026 World Cup Qualifying standings and have earned impressive friendly victories over Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States.
One of the key players during this stretch has been star winger, Luis Diaz. According to Opta, Since his debut with the senior national team in September 2018, Díaz has scored more than twice as many goals (13) as any other player for Colombia (6 by James Rodríguez, Miguel Borja, Rafael Borré, Luis Muriel, and Mateus Uribe).
Against Costa Rica in their second match of CONMEBOL Copa América 2024™, Diaz scored his first of the tournament, a brilliant strike from the penalty. While Diaz has been brilliant as expected, the re-emergence of legend James Rodriguez has been a pleasant storyline during the tournament as well.
According to Opta, Rodríguez has recorded three assists in the 2024 CONMEBOL Copa América™. Since this data has been recorded (2011), only Lionel Messi has provided more assists in a single edition of the tournament (twice: 5 in 2021 and 4 in 2016). Rodriguez had two brilliant assists in the first match against Paraguay before bagging his third against Costa Rica in the second game.
With two more games guaranteed for Los Cafeteros, Rodriguez will have a great chance to equal or break the competition's unbeaten record while his team will try to break the country’s record for the longest unbeaten run. Just two more fun storylines for fans to watch for during Colombia's matches.
While Colombia chases after the CONMEBOL Copa América™trophy, they will simultaneously be chasing history.
