2022 World Cup qualifying continues in South America this week and we have an intriguing fixture to look forward to between Chile and Colombia.
The match will take place at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos and is a key fixture as both teams aim to reach the 2020 World Cup finals in Qatar.
😍🇨🇱 Así se prepara #LaRoja en Juan Pinto Durán ⚽ Entrenamiento dominical con plantel completo, con la mira puesta en el martes a las 21:30 horas 🎯🎥💪 #VamosLaRoja #VamosChile #Chile pic.twitter.com/1I1BfmKxC9— Selección Chilena en 🏡 (@LaRoja) October 12, 2020
😍🇨🇱 Así se prepara #LaRoja en Juan Pinto Durán ⚽ Entrenamiento dominical con plantel completo, con la mira puesta en el martes a las 21:30 horas 🎯🎥💪 #VamosLaRoja #VamosChile #Chile pic.twitter.com/1I1BfmKxC9
Chile come into the match having suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Uruguay in their opening World Cup qualifying match. Travelling to Uruguay is never easy and Chile were 1-0 down after 39 minutes. A goal from Alexis Sanchez got Chile back in the match in the second half and they appeared on course to take a point before Maxi Gomez struck with the winning goal in injury time.
To concede so late in the game will have come as a huge blow for Chile and they will need to try and put that behind them going into this game.
Chile finished in sixth place in the 2018 World Cup qualifying, missing out on a place in the finals and they will want to secure a top four place this time. Trends show Chile have won only one of their last 9 games in regulation time. However, they have a strong recent home record in World Cup qualifying and have won 5 of their last 6 home qualification matches.
Four of the 5 victories saw both teams scoring and each of them had over 2.5 goals scored.
Colombia started their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign with a good 3-0 home victory over Venezuela. Colombia were the strong favourites to win the match and they took the lead after only 16 minutes. Colombia doubled their lead just 10 minutes later and scored a third in first half injury time. They failed to add to their lead in the second half but Colombia will be pleased with their work.
Colombia finished in fourth place in the previous World Cup qualifying group for South America and went on to reach the Round of 16 in Russia.
Colombia have been difficult to beat in recent times and they have lost only one of their last 13 matches inside 90 minutes. Their away record in World Cup qualifying shows they have lost just one of their last 5 games on the road.
Team news and Chile may hand a start to César Pinares and Víctor Dávila although they are more likely to go with the experienced options in Eduardo Vargas and José Pedro Fuenzalida.
Colombia will be tempted to stick with the same starting XI from the previous match. That means an attacking trio of Luis Muriel, Duván Zapata, and James Rodríguez.
This has the makings of being an extremely close game and it would not be a surprise to see the match end level. Both teams have the ability to score goals and a draw with both teams scoring seems a likely result.