MOSCOW (Dispatches) - Poland went out of the World Cup after slipping to a 3-0 defeat against Colombia as Radamel Falcao scored his first World Cup goal.
Radamel Falcao scored his first World Cup goal as Colombia revived their hopes of reaching the World Cup knockout phase with a 3-0 victory over Poland, who now cannot reach the last 16.
Monaco striker Falcao stroked home his 30th international goal, making him the first player from Colombia to reach such a milestone, midway through the second half of a cagey encounter in Kazan, where defeat for either side would have meant elimination from the competition.
Barcelona defender Yerry Mina scored the opener, powering a header beyond Wojciech Szczesny five minutes before half-time to enliven the contest, and it was the creativity and industry of Juan Cuadrado and James Rodriguez that picked apart Poland's tightly stitched seams.
The presence of James, fully fit again after a calf injury, vastly improved Colombia's link-up play following a below-par performance in their opening 2-1 defeat to Japan, and he provided the assist for Cuadrado to add a third goal that put the game well beyond Poland.
Victory leaves Jose Pekerman's side on three points in Group H, one point behind co-leaders Japan and Senegal ahead of their crunch match against the latter on Thursday.
Poland will have a role to play in deciding the fate of the group when they take on Japan, but ultimately head coach Adam Nawalka can have few complaints about being dumped out of the competition after two games in which his side failed to provide talismanic striker Robert Lewandowski with adequate service.
*****Colombia win 3-0 to end Poland's last-16 hopes