They promised to do it without Radamel Falcao, and Colombia have been as good as their word. The rampaging manner in which they topped Group C, with a 100 per cent record and a plus-seven goal difference, seems to have gone under the radar. The playmaker James Rodríguez has been the star turn, scoring in the wins against Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan and creating two goals for Jackson Martínez in the latter, but the likes of Martínez and Teófilo Gutiérrez have also stepped up to make their talismans absence seem an irrelevance. Colombias transitions from defence to attack are thrillingly swift and, even if their back line has not yet been tested to its limit, they look a very good bet to go far.
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