Colombia’s Luis Diaz (7) celebrates after scoring their second goal in the course of the World Cup Group K soccer match between Uzbekistan and Colombia in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashtin Barker)
MEXICO CITY— Colombia arrived on the World Cup with dreams of redemption after missing out on Qatar in 2022. Even though it was tense at times, the Cafeteros got off to a robust start.
Luis Díaz had a goal and an assist in his debut on soccer’s biggest stage, sparking Colombia to a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan on Wednesday night.
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“That’s what we got here here to do. It’s very essential to win this primary game. We controlled the primary half, but they played higher within the second,” said Díaz, who plays for Bayern Munich. “We must improve.”
Daniel Muñoz, also playing in his first World Cup, opened the scoring within the fortieth minute after a pass from Díaz, who scored the tiebreaking goal within the sixty fifth when his strike from close range deflected off the hands of diving goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov and trickled across the road.
“We knew that it was going to be a tricky match,” Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo said.
Uzbekistan goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov (1) fails to save lots of the goal from Colombia’s Luis Diaz (7), left, in the course of the World Cup Group K soccer match between Uzbekistan and Colombia in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Fayzullaev Abbosbek scored within the sixtieth minute for Uzbekistan, which made its World Cup debut in front of a heavily pro-Colombia crowd of 80,824 at Estadio Azteca.
“It is a superb joy, but emotionally, I feel it weighed on a number of the players who suffered physically,” Lorenzo said. “It has to do with the emotional burden generated by the opening match and the setting through which we played — especially since we were expected to take the initiative and were under pressure to win.”
With the White Wolves’ defeat, three of the 4 debuting teams at this 12 months’s World Cup lost their first match. Cape Verde played Spain to a draw, while Curaçao and Jordan lost.
“For a small team like ours, to lose 3-1 is simply too much,” said Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro, an Italian who took over the team in October 2025. “We now have good quality for an Asian team, but we want to grow. It was a superb experience.”
Jaminton Campaz added a goal in second-half stoppage time for the Colombians, who’re ranked thirteenth on the planet and were heavy favorites over Fiftieth-ranked Uzbekistan. Colombia’s best World Cup finish was a run to the quarterfinals in Brazil in 2014.
“We would have liked to hit the bottom running. Now we are able to enjoy the remainder of the night,” midfielder Gustavo Puerta said.
Colombia moved atop Group K, ahead of Portugal and Congo, who played to a surprising 1-1 draw earlier Wednesday.
The Colombians will face Congo next Thursday at Guadalajara, Mexico, while Uzbekistan will tackle Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal at Houston.
“We’re going to play against a tricky team that played great against among the best teams on the planet. It’ll be hard,” Lorenzo said.
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Colombia finished third in South American qualifying behind Argentina and Ecuador. Uzbekistan was second in its Asian qualifying group behind Iran.