“There was an official Tweet from FIFA being like, ‘Melissa Ortiz out with an injury, replaced by Lina Granados.’ And that’s how I officially found out,” Granados said.
Within a week, the Commodore midfielder and forward was headed to Canada to join fellow members of her Colombian national team. Still reeling in all of the excitement of being a part of the World Cup, Granados understood her role as a support player.
“I knew kind of before that if I got any playing time it would be kind of a miracle,” Granados laughed.
As a relatively new team in a sport with plenty of established powerhouses, including the United States, Germany and France, Colombia was certainly not expected to win it all, let alone even a game.