Crystal Palace stars Daniel Munoz and Jefferson Lerma were involved for Colombia as the South American side suffered a 2-1 defeat to Croatia in Orlando. Playing in the USA to get prepared for the World Cup this summer, the pair played for over an hour before being replaced.
Crystal Palace duo Daniel Munoz and Jefferson Lerma tasted defeat in Orlando as Colombia fell to a 2-1 defeat to Croatia.
Flying out to the USA to prepare for the World Cup this summer and get used to the climate, temperature and pitches used, it was more a case of getting minutes under the belt.
But as always with football, nobody wants to lose and unfortunately for the Palace pair, they came unstuck by a prolific Croatia side.
The South Americans took the lead after just two minutes when John Arias scored for Colombia but Croatia hit back with a goal four minutes later from Luka Vuskovic.
And they then led at half-time, when Igor Matanovic scored Croatiaโs second shortly before the break.
Colombia pushed hard for an equaliser in the dying embers but were unable to find one and had to tasta defeat at the Camping World Stadium.
From a Palace perspective, all eyes were on Lerma and in particular Munoz, who recently recovered from a shoulder injury sustained in the 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Munoz played 71 minutes, before being replaced by Santiago Arias as Colombia rotated and made five changes at the same time.
In his 71 minutes, Munoz completed 91% of his 46 passes and did get a shot away but was perhaps not as involved in the match as Palace fans would have expected with his role being that of more of a conventional right back rather than the bombing forward role Oliver Glasner uses him for.
Lerma played just over an hour before he came off the field, and was his usual abrasive self, making three tackles and completing 93% of his 42 passes.
Colombia are next in action against France on Sunday night, where Munoz and Lerma could face Palace teammate Maxence Lacroix.
The Eagles centre back made his Les Bleus debut off the bench in the 2-1 victory over Brazil in Boston, and there will be a reunion between the three, and former Palace star Michael Olise, with all players converging on Maryland.
Colombia are in a group this summer with Portugal and Uzbekistan, as well as the winner of Steve McLarenโs Jamaica against Democratic Republic of Congo.
Both Lerma and Munoz will be expecting to have a big summer for Colombia, who will be desperate to finish at least second and to advance to the knockout stages.
Colombiaโs first game at the World Cup is against Uzbekistan on June 18 in Mexico City.