On 22 June 1994, a few hours after Switzerland won a 4–1 match against Romania, another Game of Group A's second round was played at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, hosted by the United States, the winning favourite, Colombia.
Compared with the first game, U.S. coach Milu did not make much adjustment to the team's starting lineup, only replacing Coyman with Clavijo as the team's starting right-back. Obviously, Milu is still satisfied with the performance of the American team in the first game.
In contrast, Colombia coach Mathulana's adjustment to the team is somewhat incomprehensible, if it is understandable to replace Gomez with Gaviria, then it is a bit incomprehensible to replace Valencia with D'Avila to start. Valencia scored Colombia's only goal in the last game and was in fair form, compared to Asprila's performance, which is a bit difficult to say, but Asprila is famous and it is impossible to adjust him.
Although the first game was lost 1:3 to Romania, considering the strength of the opponent and the situation in the group, as long as the Colombian team adjusted in time to play the next game, then they still had a good chance to qualify. But the reality is that the Colombian players still seem to be out of shape, just over two minutes into the opening, Escobar's pass was cut off, and the United States team took advantage of the situation to launch an attack, fortunately, Córdoba focused, and the American team Stewart's shot was successfully defused.
The escaped Colombian team immediately began to control the situation on the field, taking advantage of the corner opportunity created by de Avila, and Colombia made the United States dangerous in front of the goal through tactical corner kicks.
In fact, in the first half of the first half of the game, Colombia almost completely suppressed the United States, but their offensive efficiency was not ideal, and the shots were either deflected or deflected by the American goalkeeper Meola. The Columbia team was never able to knock on the door of the American team.
Because of Colombia's strong performance, the United States team could only find opportunities through long-range shots and set-pieces, and the effect was naturally not ideal. As the game went by, the U.S. team began to step up its offense after adapting to Columbia's style of play. Nearly 29 minutes into the game, Winalda came close to taking the lead for the United States, but his shot ended up on the upright.
In the 33rd minute of the game, the score on the field was finally rewritten. The U.S. attacked from the left, and Hax sent the ball into the Colombian penalty area with a pass-like kick. At this time, the U.S. team has players at the back point to keep up, Escobar does not dare to slacken off, and rushes to the ground in an attempt to intercept the ball, but he seems to forget that he is facing his own door at this time, and the result is that the ball rolls directly into his own goal, the oolong ball!
After conceding the ball, Colombia immediately launched a counterattack, trying to win back the score. But their already unreliable shots, under the increasingly impatient mood, were even less likely to hit the target, and could not form an effective threat to the U.S. team's goal. It also allowed them to enter the halftime with a 0-1 score.
After half-time, Maturana made a major adjustment to the squad, replacing D'Avila and Asprila with Valencia and Valenciano, hoping to make a difference in the second half. But to his surprise, the Americans' attack was fierce after the start of the second half, and Laras scored a goal in the 48th minute of the game, but the goal was judged to be offside and the goal was invalidated.
But The Colombians didn't get away with it for long, and just three minutes later their city gates were once again lost. Ramos sent a scalpel-like direct pass from the right side of the midfield, piercing directly through the Colombian defense while accurately finding teammate Stewart. Facing the attacking Cordoba, Stewart did not pause, directly from the right foot shot, with a clever shot to extend the score to 2:0.
At this point, the Colombian team, which originally had poor psychological quality, was even more directionless, and compared with the first half of the game, it was judged to be two teams. The anxious mentality makes them make frequent mistakes, and it is even more difficult to talk about scoring goals. On the contrary, the U.S. team became more and more confident as they played, constantly creating opportunities to threaten the Colombian team's goal, and Marcelo Balboa even played a barb shot in the 80th minute of the game.
Colombia didn't show some of the momentum of a strong team until the final moments of the game, Valdlamar sent the ball straight into the U.S. penalty area, Marcelo Balboa defended the leak, Rincon's left-footed shot was blocked by Mayola with one hand, Valencia followed up in time to score a goal, and Colombia pulled a goal back.
Unfortunately, there was little time left in the game, and the final whistle sounded shortly after the goal, and the United States won the World Cup again after a gap of 44 years, the last time they won was in the 1950 World Cup 1-0 victory over England. Not only that, they occupy the second place in the group with one win and one draw, and they have great hopes of qualifying.
At this time, the Colombian team, which had been favored by Pele, was almost out of the group, and they could only hope that the United States would beat Romania while the other groups were third in the group. As for Escobar, who scored the oolong ball, I am afraid that no one would have imagined that the fate that awaited him after the World Cup would be so cruel.