Key Points
- Colombia has reached the quarter-finals of a FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time.
- The team has been cheered on by thousands of travelling fans.
- Colombia will face England, a tournament favourite, on Saturday.
Colombia has achieved a historic qualification to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup after defeating Jamaica 1-0, a team that, up until that point, hadn't conceded any goals in the tournament.
This is the first time that Colombia has reached the third round of a major women's soccer contest, with the team's next opponents being England, a tournament favourite, on Saturday.
With its victory over Jamaica on Tuesday, Colombia also became the final American continent team remaining in the tournament, a feat their coach, Nelson Abadía, says he is very proud of.
Supporters of the Colombian women's soccer team at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on 8 August.
That pride is shared by the thousands of fans of the Colombian national team who have been flooding Australian stadiums with an explosion of enthusiasm, colour, costumes, music, songs and flags.
In the stands of Melbourne's Rectangular Stadium, the fans sang in unison on Tuesday, “Olé olé ola, every day I love you more...” or “I'm Colombian, it's a feeling, I can't stop ...”, which has become the official anthem of support for the women's team.
Fans support the Colombian women's national team in the match against Jamaica in Melbourne.
She says she sees her team as, “the best representation Colombia has right now.”
“If there were 29,000 attendees at the stadium, 27,000 of them were Colombians,” another spectator said.
A member of a family, which travelled from Bucaramanga in Colombia to see the women's national team play, told SBS Spanish, “We've been here for three months now. We came to support our players".
They explained they had been following the team to Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.
“We support each other a lot, and Colombians are berracos (a Colombian expression used to describe people whose talent stands out in any field, for their physical strength, audacity or bravery)," she said.
We're dreaming really big, and we know what we're capable of.Catalina Usme
In the same vein, forward Catalina Usme, who scored the winning goal against Jamaica, expressed her confidence ahead of the match against England.
“This team isn't going to speculate on what it can or can't do. We are absolutely certain of the work we have done. We're dreaming really big, (and) we know what we can do,” Ms Usme said.
With semi-finals in their sights, fans' expectations are high. “We are surprised and proud of our country, we are going to win, they played amazing,” said another fan.
