Colombia’s path to qualification

Jose Pekerman’s side clinched their place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ in dramatic fashion on Friday. FIFA.com reveals the key statistics of Los Cafeteros' qualifying charge.

The whole of Colombia was set for a celebration on Friday, eagerly anticipating the return of the national side to the World Cup finals after a 16-year hiatus. The setting could not have been better either: October in Barranquilla – an impregnable fortress in the Pekerman era – with Chile providing some high-quality opposition.  

Things did not go according to plan in what turned out to be a catastrophic first half as the visitors, who clearly had not read the script, surged into a 3-0 lead, a situation Los Cafeteros were completely unaccustomed to facing in their own backyard.

With a long-awaited place at Brazil 2014 on offer, however, the hosts had every incentive to conjure up a comeback. And that is exactly what they did, all in the space of 15 second-half minutes, when Teofilo Gutierrez and Radamel Falcao pulled Colombia level to secure a draw and send the nation into raptures, the celebrations made all the more memorable by the dramatic fightback that inspired them.

With the dust having now settled, FIFA.com reflects on Colombia’s successful bid for a place at Brazil 2014 by highlighting some key statistics.