2011 Women's World Cup Preview - Colombia

Jun 25, 2011 - 9:53 PM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Thanks to a runner-up finish in the South American Women's Championship, Colombia earned its first-ever berth in the FIFA Women's World Cup this summer in Germany.

The berth in this year's World Cup is a culmination of the progress made by Colombia's youth system, which boasts former regional titles and strong showings worldwide at the Under-17 and U-20 levels.

The current squad defeated the likes of Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay to get out of the group stage of the South American Championship. In the next stage, Colombia earned a draw vs. Chile before losing to South America's other World Cup participant - Brazil - for the second time before topping Argentina to earn the spot on the biggest stage in women's soccer.

The team is very well balanced, with 11 different goal scorers tallying 19 total goals during qualifying, which topped every team except one of the World Cup favorites - Brazil.

"I'd definitely say that Colombia are in the South American elite now," Colombia coach Ricardo Rozo said. "We've got some courageous women in this team who want to win and do Colombia proud. We've got plenty of time ahead of us to put in the preparation we need to have a great World Cup."

Rozo has been coaching women for over 10 years. Recruited by the Colombian Football Association in February, Rozo led the U-20s to fourth in Germany last year in the U-20 World Cup before leading the senior team to through South American qualifying.

Colombia has a bright future because its best player is 17-year-old Yorely Rincon. She scored five goals in qualifying and appears to be one of the best young women's players since Brazil's Marta burst onto the scene a decade ago.

Rincon actually already has Marta in her sights.

"She's nearly 10 years older than me and won the award for the first time at the age of 20," Rincon told FIFA.com. "I'm 17 right now so I've still got a bit of time left. That's my goal, I want to win it at an earlier age than she did."

Goalkeeper Paula Forero, defender Nathalie Arias and forwards Maria Usme and Ingrid Vidal are also key players to the Colombian surge onto the world stage.

PAST ACHIEVEMENTS:

-- First-ever FIFA Women's World Cup.