Socceroos slump to another defeat as Colombia stars make difference in New York

• James Rodr?guez, Luis D?az and Jefferson Lermer on target
  
• Three goals in 17 minutes hand Australia a third defeat in a row

Seven months out from the World Cup, the Socceroos have lost three straight games. Their 3-0 defeat to Colombia in Queens came with a better performance than their abject defeat against Venezuela last week but once they went behind, they collapsed; James Rodr?guez?s 76th-minute penalty was followed by Luis D?az pouncing on an error in the 88th-minute, before Jefferson Lerma fired home in stoppage time.
Against a strong opponent, possessing world-class attacking talent, Australia did what we?ve come to expect from them for the first 75 minutes. They defended resolutely and in numbers, and put their bodies on the line and into their opponents. Before the awarding of the penalty ? a suspect decision ? few would have been shocked if things had ended in a goalless stalemate. But the razor-thin margin for error that the Socceroos possess, wherein their struggles to create clear avenues to goal demand clean sheets, bore out painfully once they were placed in a deficit.
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