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Colombia edged the Democratic Republic of the Congo one-nil — a rather tense and at the same time rather crucial match.

For convenience, below we'll simply shorten the Democratic Republic of the Congo to "Congo."

What made it crucial: for Colombia, as long as they could win this match, they could qualify early from the group and advance smoothly to the knockout stage.

And for this very reason, from the very start of the match, Colombia looked especially eager for victory.

Before recapping the match, let's first get to know these two teams.

Colombia comes from South America, a strong and famous team in world football.

Their players have refined technique and great pace, with a very rich array of attacking options, always a rather troublesome opponent.

In many past World Cups they've performed well, a tough nut no one wants to run into lightly.

Their opponents in this match, Congo, come from Africa, with a clear gap to Colombia in both fame and overall team strength.

But Congo's players are physically strong and tenacious in style, a resilient defensive team, absolutely not easy to handle.

Facing a strong side like Colombia, from the start they set up to defend doggedly, determined to spar with their opponents to the very end.

Precisely because this match meant so much to Colombia, from the moment the opening whistle blew, Colombia were eager to take these precious three points as soon as possible.

Yet once the match actually got going, both sides played quite cautiously.

Although Colombia firmly held the initiative on the pitch with clearly more of the ball, Congo's overall defence was, in fact, really quite solid.

Almost the whole team dropped back into their own half, working hard to protect their goal with packed numbers, leaving Colombia little space.

So for a long stretch of the opening, Colombia kept attacking nonstop yet were slow to truly break things open.

By the end of the first half, the score still stood firmly at nil-nil.

The play looked a touch dull, but in fact both sides were very tense, because everyone knew that in a match like this, any small mistake could directly decide the final result.

After entering the second half, Colombia clearly stepped up the intensity of their attack.

With crosses, long shots and corners, they used nearly every attacking weapon, charging at Congo's goal again and again.

Colombia's players kept passing and moving in the final third, tugging at Congo's defensive line, trying to create even one chance to score.

However, Congo's defence was just too tenacious.

Whenever a Colombia player drove into the box, several Congo defenders would swarm in and seal off the attack, leaving Colombia, for a while, unable to find a way through.

Colombia's fans in the stands began to grow a little anxious: would this must-win-at-all-costs match really be doggedly dragged into a draw by the opponent in the end?

Right at this moment, Colombia finally got a rather precious chance.

Their player Muñoz seized that rare chance and, in front of goal, calmly finished, helping Colombia take a one-nil lead.

With both teams having few chances, this single goal was extremely crucial.

In such a tense match, whoever can be the first to break the deadlock on the pitch seizes a huge advantage.

After taking the lead, Colombia immediately became steadier.

As a very experienced team, they knew very well that in this kind of tense match, as long as they could solidly hold the one-goal lead, it often meant taking the whole match.

And the trailing Congo, anxious to draw level, had no choice but to go all out and pile forward, launching wave after wave of attack at Colombia's goal.

Congo's fans in the stands cheered hopefully for their team again and again, longing for them to level the score.

However, Colombia's whole defensive line was just as solid, and they didn't leave Congo many chances.

Minute by minute the time slipped away, and the constantly advancing Congo still never managed to breach that tenacious opposing goal.

In the end, the match finished one-nil, with Colombia having the last laugh.

For Colombia, the meaning of this victory was extraordinary.

It was precisely with these precious three points that they secured a qualification spot early, advancing smoothly from the group stage to the knockouts.

Qualifying early is undoubtedly a tremendous thing for a team.

It means that in the remaining group matches, they can arrange their lineup and adjust their form more calmly, making solid preparations for the more brutal knockouts ahead.

But for Congo, it was a rather regretful result.

They actually played well, defending superbly all match and pinning back the strong Colombia for well over half the game, only sadly never managing to take a chance and score even one goal for themselves.

In attack, their options were just too few; those handful of rare counters never formed a real threat.

Still, for an African team, to spar with a strong side like Colombia from start to finish is itself no easy thing.

That tenacity, that never-give-up fight, still won the respect of many, many neutral fans.

After the match, the discussion mostly centred on this game.

Some sincerely praised Colombia as strong: at the most crucial moment they could both take their chance to score and solidly hold the lead, showing the maturity and savvy a strong team should have.

Others felt for Congo, that they defended just too tenaciously, and to lose the match this way was somewhat hard to accept.

Some also remarked that it was precisely because of an opponent like Congo, daring to battle a strong team to the bitter end, that this seemingly bland match stayed tense to the very last moment.

Actually, this is exactly the appeal of the sport of football, and at the same time its most cruel side: sometimes, a single goal is enough to decide a match, even to decide a team's fate.

And for this very reason, on the highest stage like the World Cup, every chance and every goal is all the more precious.

Okay, that's the whole story of Colombia against Congo, see you next time.