Colombia marked their return to the World Cup stage with a hard-fought opening victory over a resilient Uzbekistan side in Group K, courtesy of goals from Daniel Muñoz, Luis Díaz and Jaminton Campaz. Colombia’s eight-year wait to return to the World Cup stage was worth every second for their fans. Los Cafeteros locked down a vital 3-1 victory over a stubborn Uzbekistan side on Matchday 1 of Group K, kicking off their tournament run in the best possible way. It was far from easy early on for Colombia. Despite controlling the lion’s share of possession, they found it incredibly difficult to crack open Uzbekistan’s compact low block. Just as frustration was starting to build on the eve of halftime, Luis Díaz conjured up a moment of magic, delivering a brilliant assist to Daniel Muñoz, who slotted it home to break the deadlock in the 40th minute. Uzbekistan refused to go quietly, however, and made history of their own in the second half. The debutants capitalized on a costly blunder by Camilo Vargas and Abbosbek Fayzullaev pounced on the error, tapping into an empty net in the 59th minute, triggering wild celebrations as he recorded Uzbekistan’s first-ever goal in a World Cup tournament. But the underdogs’ joy was short-lived. Just five minutes later, Luis Díaz took matters into his own hands, scoring a spectacular goal to restore Colombia’s cushion. When the match was about to finish, Jaminton Campaz scored a late goal to seal the game and give his team three vital points. With the 3-1 victory, the South American giants sit alone at the top of Group K with 3 points, leaping ahead of Portugal and DR Congo (who shared a point in their 1-1 draw), while Uzbekistan started their campaign at the bottom of the table.