Colombia won their first game of Women’s World Cup without head coach Nelson Abadía due to suspension

Colombia won its opening match of the Women’s World Cup 2-0 over South Korea as Las Cafeteras head coach Nelson Abadía served the first of a two-game suspension.

Colombia’s manager since 2017, Abadía received a red card at the end of the 2022 Copa América Femenina final for arguing with a match official. A spokesman for CONMEBOL, the governing body for South America’s international tournaments, did not provide any other details about the incident.

The red card was equivalent to a two-game suspension, which meant Colombia’s first two games in Group H at the global tournament. Abadía will also miss the game against Group H favorite Germany on Sunday.

“He’s kind of like the dad of the team,” Colombian midfielder Elexa Bahr said. “But I don’t think it affected us at all. We all came to win the first game and that’s what we did.”

Angelo Marsiglia is filling in for Abadía.

“He was always there to provide us with the best conditions,” Colombian forward Linda Caicedo said. “He was very clear with what we had to do and to establish an order on the pitch.”

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Bahr said the team played a friendly against China earlier this month with Abadía watching from the stands.

“It was a little bit unusual for us,” she said, “but other than that we tried to keep everything the same.”

Caicedo, at 18 is one of the many teenagers playing in this World Cup, scored in the 39th minute in Tuesday’s match. She’s the tournament’s youngest goal-scorer thus far. She debuted with the Colombian senior team at 14 and beat cancer at 15, and this is the biggest tournament of her career.

“We knew that he wouldn’t be able to be there,” Caicedo said of Abidía, “but the information he provided to us was very clear.”

Abadía’s son, Mario, also an assistant coach, attended the post-match press conference in his father’s place.

“They have excellent communication on the pitch,” Mario Abadía said of Colombia’s players. “We do certain things during the week and in training, and then they show that.”