Falcao scores in Colombia’s rout of Poland

KAZAN, Russia — Four years after Radamel Falcao was supposed to lead Colombia at the World Cup, he’s doing just that.

Falcao missed the tournament in Brazil with a knee injury and had to wait until arriving in Russia to score his first World Cup goal. It came in Colombia’s 3-0 victory over Poland on Sunday.

“It’s a dream goal,” Falcao said. “I’m happy for the victory, for the team’s performance and the goal that I scored, which I’ve been waiting for for many years.”

The victory kept Colombia in the running for a spot in the round of 16 and knocked out Poland, the first European country to be eliminated.

Falcao, Colombia’s all-time leading scorer with 30 goals, made sure he would stay healthy for this year’s World Cup by sitting out several matches with his Monaco club this season. So far, so good. “We always hope that he can score and hope that he can be fit as he was today, and we want to help him,” Colombia coach Jose Pekerman said. “I think the fact that he scored was very important, not just for today but for the matches to come.

“He is a symbol of the national team. He is a symbol of Colombian football.”

Falcao scored with the outside of his foot in the 70th minute after a superb pass Senegal players celebrate a goal during their 2-2 tie with Japan.

from playmaker Juan Quintero in the back of the defense.

Yerry Mina recorded the first goal in the 40th minute, and Juan Cuadrado scored in the 75th.

JAPAN 2, SENEGAL 2: Senegal twice took the

lead. Japan tied it up both times. Keisuke Honda came off the bench in the second half and scored in the 78th minute, giving the Japanese a draw with Senegal in Yekaterinburg. The tie keeps the two teams at the top of Group H ahead of their final matches.

FIFA said Stephan Lichtsteiner is the third Switzerland player charged with making the hand gesture of an Albanian two-headed eagle to celebrate a goal in a 2-1 win over Serbia.

Serbia coach Mladen Krstajic and federation president Slavisa Kokeza have had disciplinary cases opened against them for comments made after the game.

Meanwhile, a day after being put under investigation by FIFA for complaining about the refereeing in the loss to Switzerland and misbehavior by fans, Serbia’s football association filed an official complaint with football’s governing body alleging “biased officiating” by referee Feliz Brych.

Two Germany team officials face FIFA punishment for provoking Sweden’s bench when celebrating a late victory in the tense match.

FIFA said its disciplinary panel opened cases against Ulrich Voigt and Georg Behlau from the German staff.

Footage shows Voigt and Behlau walking toward the Sweden dugout at the final whistle and seeming to gloat by clapping and pointing at their opponents.

Their behavior provoked a confrontation between players and team officials.

Germany’s 2-1 win came from a Toni Kroos goal deep into stoppage time.