Tournament Match 48|Group K|Matchday 2

🇨🇴 Colombia VS DR Congo 🇨🇩

James Rodríguez · Luis Díaz · Colombia Copa América Champions · Guadalajara Late-Night

Date
June 23, 2026
Kickoff
10 PM ET / 3 AM BST
Venue
Estadio Akron
Location
Guadalajara, Mexico
Team Overview
🇨🇴
Colombia
Coach: Néstor Lorenzo · Group K · Copa América 2024 Champions

Colombia are Copa América champions, having won the 2024 tournament without losing a match — a historic achievement under Néstor Lorenzo that transformed Colombia's footballing identity. They arrive at this World Cup as genuine contenders for the second round, with a squad that has both technical quality and the collective confidence of champions.

James Rodríguez — the Golden Boot winner of Brazil 2014 and one of the most technically gifted players Colombia has ever produced — arrived at squad camp from Minnesota United in May, still performing well at 34. Luis Díaz (Liverpool) is the most dangerous attacker, electric and relentless. David Ospina (Atlético Nacional) brings veteran goalkeeping experience. Richard Ríos, Juan Cuadrado, Yerry Mina, Davinson Sánchez, and Jefferson Lerma compose a midfield and defensive spine with significant European club experience. Néstor Lorenzo's Colombia play expansive, attractive football. They will want to entertain in Guadalajara.

VS
🇨🇩
DR Congo
Coach: Sébastien Desabre · Group K · Léopards

DR Congo — the Léopards — have assembled a squad with genuine European club presence. Arthur Masuaku (Crystal Palace) is the most Premier League-familiar face. Chancel Mbemba brings defensive solidity. Cédric Bakambu, if fit, provides a veteran attacking option. Jonathan Balanga and Théo Bongonda (formerly Celta Vigo) offer pace and creativity in wide areas.

Sébastien Desabre — the French coach who previously managed Uganda — has built a disciplined, hard-working team that will make Colombia work for everything they get. DR Congo know they are underdogs against Colombia and Portugal in Group K. Their aim is to be competitive, stay in shape, and look for the moments that tournament football sometimes delivers to the underdogs who remain organised and mentally clear until those moments arrive.

Key Duel
Luis Díaz
Colombia · Forward / Winger
Liverpool. 27 years old. The most devastating attacking threat Colombia possess — direct, unpredictable, technically brilliant, with the ability to run in behind or receive feet and beat his man in tight areas. Against DR Congo's backline, he will be the decisive figure. Néstor Lorenzo will design significant portions of Colombia's attacking game around giving him the ball in space.
⚡
James Rodríguez
Colombia · Attacking Midfielder
Minnesota United. 34 years old. Still one of the most gifted passers and dead ball specialists in the game when fit and motivated. He arrived at World Cup camp in excellent physical shape according to the Colombian federation. If Lorenzo trusts him from the start, James will dictate Colombia's creative tempo from the 10 position with the unhurried authority of someone who knows exactly what he's capable of when the stage is big enough.
Predicted Score
🇨🇴 Colombia
DR Congo 🇨🇩
2 – 0
Luis Díaz · James free kick · Colombia Copa América quality shows · Guadalajara midnight atmosphere
Hot Takes
Take 01
Colombia winning Copa América 2024 unbeaten — and then arriving at a World Cup with the same coaching staff, the same squad core, and the same Copa América champions mentality — is the kind of platform that genuinely changes how a team carries itself through a tournament. The 2014 Colombia team was exciting but chaotic. This Colombia team is disciplined, coherent, and confident in a way that feels different. Néstor Lorenzo deserves enormous credit for maintaining that culture and identity from a Copa América to a World Cup cycle. If Colombia go deep here, he becomes one of the great Colombian football figures.
Take 02
James Rodríguez at Minnesota United, still receiving World Cup call-ups at 34, is one of football's stranger late-career trajectories. The player who lit up Brazil 2014 with a Golden Boot, who was bought by Real Madrid, who spent time at Bayern Munich and Everton — is now playing in MLS and still good enough to be Colombia's starting number ten at a World Cup. It is a statement about the MLS's improving quality, about James's maintained conditioning, and about his status in Colombian football that surpasses any club situation he finds himself in.
Take 03
DR Congo playing their World Cup group stage matches at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara — a Mexican venue where the atmosphere will be electric and the support will be loud — gives the Léopards a kind of de facto home environment from a neutral crowd that simply enjoys football played with pace and flair. DR Congo play with pace and flair. Against Colombia, who also play with pace and flair, this match at 10 PM local time in the Mexican heat has the makings of a genuinely good watch for any armchair galáctico still awake at 3 AM BST.
Verdict

Colombia have the quality and tournament experience to see this through. Díaz's pace undoes the DR Congo backline for the first, James applies his magic from a set piece for the second. DR Congo compete admirably. Colombia 2–0 DR Congo. Group K takes shape — Portugal and Colombia are the frontrunners.

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