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Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings: Who replaced Radamel Falcao as Colombia's star man?

Performances from this Group C encounter rated

Saturday 14 June 2014 19:57 BST

Colombia started their World Cup campaign in style with an emphatic 3-0 win over Greece.

Pablo Armero opened the scoring after just five minutes as many people's tournament dark horses ensured they started strongly.

River Plate striker Teofilo Gutierrez, the man chosen to replace the injured Radamel Falcao, doubled their lead just before the hour mark.

Finally James Rodriguez, sealed a comfortable win with his goal in injury time.

The result sees Colombia go to the top of Group C with Ivory Coast and Japan to play later.

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Show all 21

1/21Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

David Ospina

Had relatively little to do but did save superbly from Kone’s effort - 7/10

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Camilo Zuniga

Started brightly but faded in the second half as Columbia’s stars took over - 6

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Pablo Armero

Got Columbia off to the best of starts with his early goal and was sound at the back - 8

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Carlos Sanchez

Coped well with everything Greece could muster - 7

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Cristian Zapata

Not as effective going forward as fellow full-back Armero but did fine - 6

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Mario Yepes

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Juan Cuadrado

Columbia’s best player throughout with his creativity and composure. Set up two of the three goals and was a threat all game - 9

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Abel Aguilar

Great movement and flick on for Columbia’s second goal - 7

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Teofilo Gutierrez

Filled the boots of Falcao up front with style. Deserved his goal very much and contributed well throughout - 8

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

James Rodriguez

Guilty of over playing at times but his class was on shown all match long. Added a smart final goal to crown Columbia’s opening game in style - 8

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Victor Ibarbo

Did ok but not quite at his best, could find his starting place lost to Martinez or Bacca in the next game - 6

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Orestis Karnezis

Helpless after deflected first goal and then could do nothing with the next two. Didn’t do much wrong but won’t be happy after shipping three goals - 6/10

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Vasileios Torosidis

Good going forward all game and had a few half chances fall his way. Failed to do his task to his best ability in defence though - 6

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Jose Holebas

Did well in attack, like his fellow full-back but Columbia proved too much for him in defence - 6

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Panagiotis Kone

Came close on more than one occasion and was a threat but didn’t have quite enough quality to finish the chances that came his way - 7

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Kostas Manolas

Like his centre-back partner, helpless to stop the Columbia onslaught at times - 5

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Sokratis Papastathopoulos

Couldn’t cope with Columbia’s pace and skill and got caught out more than once - 5

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Dimitris Salpingidis

Booked for a nasty foul in second half due to his lack of pace when compared to Columbia’s midfield - 5

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Kostas Katsouranis

Did fine in his 112th cap and played his part in Greece’s best moments going forward - 6

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Theofanis Gekas

Failed to carve out any real efforts until hitting the bar from all of 5 yards when really should have scored - 4

Colombia 3 Greece 0 player ratings

Georgos Samaras

Greece’s best player. Didn’t stop working both in defence and attack. Had several half decent efforts and didn’t really deserve to be on the losing side - 8

Who do you think was the stand-out player? Let us know in the comments below.

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