With Group H competitors Japan and Senegal on four points, it was a must-win for both Poland and Colombia, each with nil, if they were to stand any chance of making progress to the last 16 round.

Poland supplied most of the early pressure; as usual hoping inspirational skipper Robert Lewandowski would do his magic.

However, the Colombian back four did a sterling ‘pest control’ marking job on him, neutralising his prowess.

Chances were created fairly regularly for both sides, especially from the dancing feet of Colombia’s sparkling Juan Cuadrado.

But finishing was miserable at both ends, with not a single shot on target until 39 minutes when a clever cross from James Rodríguez found the head of Yerry Mina, who put the South Americans ahead 1-0.

With majority possession, they were worthy of the half time lead.

They can thank keeper David Ospina for maintaining the status quo when he saved point blank from Lewandowski early in the second period.

However, it was Colombia who doubled their lead with the goal of the game in the 70th minute when a defence-splitting pass by Juan Fernando Quintero was gleefully pounced on by veteran Radamel Falcao, who absolutely nailed a bullet past Wojciech Szczesny in the sticks.

Two minutes later and Juan Cuadrado picked up a loose ball, dribbled half the length of the field, held off a couple of would-be defenders and duly supplied a classy finishing touch to make it 3-0.

This would be the end result.

Poland‘s World Cup dream is over, while Colombia are well in it, just one point behind Japan and Senegal – their opponents in the last group encounter on Thursday.