Jaminton Campaz etched his name into Colombian football history on Wednesday night, scoring the latest regular-time goal ever recorded by a Colombia player at a World Cup to seal a dramatic 3-1 victory over World Cup debutants Uzbekistan in their Group K opener at the iconic Estadio Azteca.
The 98th-minute header—officially timed at 98:14—rewrote the record books for late Colombian drama. It surpassed Freddy Rincón’s iconic 92nd-minute equalizer against Germany in 1990 (92:15), James Rodríguez’s strike against Greece in 2014 (92:11), and goals from Lozano (90:19 vs Switzerland in 1994) and Adolfo Valencia (89:56 vs USA in 1994).
The match itself was a rollercoaster of emotions for the 80,000-strong crowd, packed predominantly in Colombia’s yellow, turning the Azteca into a home away from home. Daniel Muñoz opened the scoring with an acrobatic volley in the 40th minute. However, Uzbekistan—coached by World Cup-winning defender Fabio Cannavaro—stunned the South Americans when Abbosbek Fayzullaev headed home the nation’s first-ever World Cup goal just after the hour mark.
The lead lasted just five minutes. Bayern Munich winger Luis Díaz, who had already hit the post in the first half，restored Colombia’s advantage with a clinical finish. Then, with Uzbekistan committing men forward in search of an equalizer, substitute Cucho Hernández won possession and crossed for Campaz to power home a header at the far post. Teenager Bekhruz Karimov still had time to crash a shot against the crossbar for Uzbekistan, but Colombia held firm.
With Portugal and DR Congo drawing 1-1 earlier in the day, Colombia sits top of Group K with three points.
