Flexibility key for Colombia’s Lorenzo as Swiss challenge awaits

VANCOUVER: The ability of Colombia’s players to adapt to different situations will be key when they take on Switzerland in their World Cup last-16 tie on Tuesday, coach Nestor Lorenzo said.

Colombia have only conceded a single goal so far at the tournament, with Lorenzo making plenty of in-game tactical and positional shifts that have kept his charges on their toes.

“I believe it is key for us to have those types of players, players who interpret the game with simplicity, and that they know how to behave. They grasp the game, they understand the game,” Lorenzo told a press conference on Monday.

“On top of the fact that they have the physical and technical capacity that allows for improved versatility, they understand the game. They understand the different moments, and it enables the team to grow. I think we have many players of this sort who are highly versatile.”

The unbeaten Colombians have crisscrossed the continent, playing their opening two games in Mexico, then heading to Miami and Kansas before ending up over the border in Canada for their last-16 showdown with the Swiss.

“It’s not a good thing to travel so much. The whole time changes, weather changes, because we play at high altitudes and humidity, and in dry weather too. We’re pretty much exposed to all sorts of changes. We knew it would be this way,” Lorenzo said.

“The World Cup is being held in three countries in such a big continent. It could have happened to anybody, and it has happened to us. We just need to accept the situation, to try to work it out on a day-by-day basis, and give our best performance.”

The 60-year-old coach said he expected a tough challenge from Murat Yakin’s side.

“(It will require) plenty of tactical discipline, because they’re quite organised, they’re good in attack, they’re good in defence, they have lots of actions fully systematised because their head coach has been with them for four or five years, I believe,” he explained.

“They’ve been in two World Cups, some of them went to Qatar (in 2022). They are highly experienced, they play in their (English) Premier League and in Italy, so it is going to be a tough match against a pretty good team.”