Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe was in Colombia's hearts during their 2-1 defeat to Turkey in Saturday's Confederations Cup third place playoff, said coach Francisco Maturana.
But once the match got underway the thoughts of both the coach and his players turned to trying to beat the World Cup semi-finalists in a hard-tackling game.
Foe collapsed in Cameroon's 1-0 semi-final win over the Colombians in Lyon on Thursday and died shortly afterwards.
"He was in our hearts, but once we started to play, we concentrated on playing well and trying to win," Maturana told reporters.
"This way of approaching the game was a homage in itself."
Colombia defender Mario Yepes echoed his coach's view, saying: "You have to continue, but with respect.
"For me, the competition had finished the day before yesterday (after the semi-final). I said before the game (today) that because of what happened, this match wasn't important.
"But once you're on the pitch, you want to win."
A minute's silence was held before the game at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard in which the players wore black armbands.
Turkey coach Senol Gunes summed up the combative encounter, in which four of his players were booked along with one Colombian, by saying: "Two teams who missed their chance to get to the final played to win. It was a very good game."
Defensive blunders enabled Tuncay Sanli to put Turkey ahead after just two minutes and Colombia were caught out on the break by Okan Yilmaz's late winner after Giovanni Hernandez equalised for the South Americans.
"The first Turkish goal was due to a mistake, a lack of concentration," Yepes said. "But afterwards, as in all the games, we played really well and could have won. But we didn't take our chances."
Colombia skipper Ivan Cordoba said: "I think we were wrong to try and score a second goal. We should have realised that a goal wasn't going to come and settled for 1-1 and then waited for extra time.
"But these things happen when you have such a young squad and the lessons are there to be learned. I think what we've done here has been positive."
Holders France take on Cameroon in Sunday's final at the Stade de France with FIFA president Sepp Blatter calling for a competitive match in Foe's memory.
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