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13 mins: Australia’s composure on the ball in defence and midfield has been an early feature. Some nice interplay almost releases Toure but he’s struggling to know when to time his runs after a couple of offside calls against him. O’Neill, Irvine, and McGree offer plenty of industry and determination in close quarters.
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11 mins: Colombia have attempted to go over the top of Australia a few times already, but it seems a fruitless task against a tall back three not looking to play an offside trap.
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9 mins: Colombia haven’t got into their flow yet. Australia are playing lots of short passes from the three central defenders into the feet of the two defensive midfielders, who in turn pass the ball back without looking to play forward on the half-turn. The out-ball is then a diagonal to the channel, mostly the right, for Metcalfe and Toure to chase.
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7 mins: Toure has a difficult job tonight as the target man up against such a powerful defensive unit but he does well to hold up play and bring McGree into the action. It’s all very conservative though with Australia reluctant to commit bodies forward. You can see why as well because the Socceroos look vulnerable in turnover situations, as a misplaced pass on the left almost allowed Rios to pounce.
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5 mins: Out of possession Australia are defending in a very structured 4-5-1 denying Colombia any room to play out from the back. James decides to drop deep on the right wing to inject some urgency, pings a lovely ball through the lines, to set his team moving. Some sharp one-touch interplay allows a crossing opportunity but the final ball is just behind Suarez who fails to connect with a hopeful flick.
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3 mins: Australia are confident on the ball in their defensive third, looking to work their way out of trouble, but they succeed only inviting the Colombian press onto them and get lucky when Suarez can’t punish Degenek’s slip on the edge of his own box. Lots of possession early for the Socceroos though, who have settled well.
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1 min: Australia think they’ve freed Toure in the right channel almost immediately after the kick-off, but he’s flagged offside. Vargas made a neat save at his near post regardless.
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Kick-off!
We’re under way in New York…
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Tori Penso is tonight’s referee. She is a NWSL and MLS regular.
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Unsurprisingly the support in Queens is overwhelming in favour of Colombia. Roughly 150,000 residents of the New York borough hail from the South American nation.
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The two sides make their way out onto the diamond, each group of players wearing 90s retro neon piped anthem jackets. They both line up in a very skew-whiff arrangement, in keeping with the odd dimensions of the playing arena.
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It is winter chilly in New York, but dry and still under the Citi Field floodlights. Australia will be in their chic all black away strip tonight with Colombia in their traditional citrus yellow.
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“Hi, I’m personal injury attorney Lionel Hutz. If you are calling because of a soft tissue injury experienced near second base, please press one. If you are calling because of a soft tissue injury experienced near third base, please press two.”
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“What kind of stadium is Citi Field?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s a baseball stadium, home of the New York Mets, with a capacity of around 42,000. It’s no stranger to soccer with New York FC playing there regularly in recent years.
But I have to be honest, this looks abominable, especially the artificial turf between what is usually second and third bases that screams PFA lawsuit.
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Australia XI
Popovic has made five changes from the starting XI against Venezuela. Paul Izzo returns in goal, with Cam Burgess, Kye Rowles, Jackson Irvine, and Riley McGree bolstering a more familiar-looking 5-2-3 line-up.
Socceroos: Paul Izzo (gk), Lewis Miller, Milos Degenek, Kai Trewin, Cam Burgess, Kye Rowles, Aiden O’Neill, Jackson Irvine (c), Connor Metcalfe, Riley McGree, Mohamed Toure.
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Colombia XI
Lorenzo has gone with an experienced defence and forward line in his favoured 4-3-3 formation, but is experimenting with his midfield combination. It’s a big night for Sporting striker Luis Suárez to cement his status as the starting targetman to complement the veteran James and blistering Diaz up front.
Colombia: Camilo Vargas (gk), Santiago Arias, Davinson Sánchez, Jhon Lucumí, Johan Mojica, Juan Portilla, Richard Ríos, Yáser Asprilla, James Rodríguez (c), Luis Díaz, Luis Suárez.
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Colombia and Australia secured safe passage to North America months ago but elsewhere in the world the race to reach the World Cup finals has reached fever pitch.
This includes Scotland qualifying in the most ludicrous fashion and Graham Arnold steering Iraq to an interconfederation playoff deep into Fergie time.
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Here’s Joey Lynch’s latest letter from America as the Socceroos fine tune their 2026 World Cup preparations.
With just 270 minutes of football remaining until Popovic names his 26-player squad – starting on Tuesday against Colombia in New York before two further games, likely at home, next March – every minute on the pitch isn’t just precious in seeking solutions for the Socceroos’ longstanding foibles in possession, but for those players who want to be part of his plans next June. The coach may want to leave the door open as long as possible, but he’ll likely be zeroing in on his preferred squad in the months ahead, so the clock is ticking.
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Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Colombia v Australia. This 2026 World Cup warm-up friendly kicks off at New York’s Citi Field Stadium at 8:30pm local time (12:30pm AEDT).
Seven months out from the start of the 2026 World Cup in North America this is a classic pre-tournament friendly: two qualified teams from different confederations at a neutral venue situated in one of the tournament’s host cities. Both camps get to experience a different footballing culture, familiarise themselves with conditions they can expect to face next summer, and play around with squad selection with minimal jeopardy.
For the Socceroos this is their fourth successive match in North America after a victory away to Canada in Montreal followed by defeats to the USA and Venezuela in Denver and Houston. That pair of losses, the first of Tony Popovic’s 14 month tenure, have given pause for thought over Australia’s World Cup preparations after seven straight victories in the calendar year.
But as much as results and momentum matter, these matches and training blocks are valuable for whittling down the longlist of potential squad members into the chosen 26 that will be handed the experience of a lifetime. This is especially the case for Popovic with so many young and lesser spotted individuals to cast his eye over.
Australia are currently 25th on FIFA’s rankings, their opponents tonight are placed 13th and haven’t ranked outside the top 20 since 2012. They qualified for the World Cup in third place in the CONMBEOL confederation (ahead of Brazil and Uruguay – and way in front of Venezuela, who beat the Socceroos a few days ago), beating both Argentina and Brazil along the way. The only player to score more goals than Colombia’s Luis Diaz during South American qualification was Lionel Messi.
Los Cafeteros are on an eight match unbeaten streak, one featuring eye-catching wins over Venezuela (6-3) and Mexico (4-0). Former Swindon Town defender (*looking at you David Squires*) Néstor Lorenzo is excelling in the dugout, making the most of a talented crop of players. The aforementioned Diaz is the standout, but 34 year old James Rodriguez continues to scheme, alongside a formidable army of stout defenders.
That will do for the time being. I’ll be back shortly with team news and plenty of updates from Joey Lynch over in New York. If you want to drop me an email at any point you can reach me at jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
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