VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) 鈥� Colombia was on the cusp of matching its best performance but could not come through in a penalty shootout.
Davinson S谩nchez sent his penalty over the bar, and Cucho Hern谩ndez had his attempt saved by Gregor Kobel as Switzerland beat Colombia on Tuesday.
鈥淐learly, something is missing. We haven鈥檛 been able to win with the national team,鈥� midfielder Jhon Arias said.
Awaiting Colombia was a quarterfinal matchup against defending champion and South American rival Argentina. Instead, Los Cafeteros are headed home.
They had plenty chances to put it away, particularly in extra time.
Jhon Lucum铆 smashed a header off the top of the crossbar in the first extra-time period. Jaminton Campaz missed another clear-cut chance in the 116th minute. The striker picked up an errant clearance from Granit Xhaka and, with only Kobel to beat, shot the ball over the bar.
Gustavo Puerta had the first good chance for Colombia with a shot from distance in the 21st minute that was pushed away by Kobel.
Colombia鈥檚 best World Cup performance was in 2014, when it beat Uruguay in the round of 16 before losing to host Brazil in the quarterfinals. Los Cafeteros lost to England on penalties in the round of 16 in 2018 and missed the 2022 World Cup altogether.
鈥淲e all want to win. We all want to achieve important things with the national team because I think the people deserve it,鈥� Arias said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 something we need to reflect on carefully, and hopefully we鈥檒l find what it is that鈥檚 still missing.鈥�
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Owen Cameros is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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