Colombia cruise past hosts

A brace by Dayana Castillo spurred Colombia on to a comfortable opening 4-0 win against hosts Azerbaijan. Colombia were on top from the off, despite a partisan crowd roaring on the host side but Castillo already had her first on 17 minutes. Latching on to a fine through ball by Leicy Santos she fired past Aytaj Sharifova. It only took three minutes more before she had her second, which was a thing of beauty. The influential captain ghosted in from the left before hitting an unstoppable shot off the inside of the post. Azerbaijan looked a little more composed for the next 20 minutes, but Sharifova was picking the ball out of her net before half-time. Slack defending from the home side allowed Carolina Arbelaez to strike at goal. Her effort was blocked but Gabriela Maldonado tapped in. Progress was slow for either side in the second half, with Colombia adding plenty of offsides to an eventual total of 14. Azerbaijan almost pulled one back with 25 minutes to go, Valiyeva breaking through the Colombian backline but Cardozo stood tall and was equal to it. Their hopes of anything at all were well and truly dashed in the 73rd minute though, with Laura Aguirre pouncing on a defensive lapse to volley a bouncing ball that in for 4-0. They then managed to hit the post twice and see an effort cleared off the line, but that’s how it remained. FIFA