World Cup 2022: Uruguay and Colombia Don’t Want to Get Left Behind

World Cup 2022: Uruguay and Colombia Don’t Want to Get Left Behind

Uruguay vs Colombia

The battle for the coveted World Cup 2022 spots continues in South America. And with only a few matchdays left, indeed, there is a major sense of urgency for all of our CONMEBOL hopefuls.

Brazil and Argentina continue to lord over everyone in the qualifiers with 24 and 18 points respectively. On the other hand, Uruguay are third with 15 points while Ecuador and Colombia are level with 13 each.

In what might be a crucial battle for the remaining qualification places, this match between Uruguay and Colombia on Thursday evening is going to be an action-packed one and both will not want to cede ground at all.

Compared to before where Uruguay and Colombia have been missing key personnel for the most part, both countries come in here fully loaded and they are ready to give us football fans their share of World Cup 2022 highlights anew.

There’s no doubt that this encounter is a must-watch. So read on below as SBOTOP examines both of these countries here in today’s match preview.

Talking points

Uruguay will welcome back the ol’ reliables 

Uruguay are the third favourites to secure their qualification spot behind Brazil and Argentina, and their chances are about to get even better.

La Celeste picked up back-to-back victories versus Bolivia and Ecuador in the previous international break despite having to improvise as Oscar Tabarez didn’t have his two star strikers at the time.

Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani – who are one and two in their all-time top scorers list – were absent last September, but Uruguay didn’t skip a beat as the trio of Agustin Alvarez, Maxi Gomez, and Brian Rodriguez stepped up out front.

Giorgian de Arrascaeta remains in fine form for La Celeste, having scored twice in their last two games and he’ll be tasked to feed Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani the ball for chances. The Flamengo playmaker is going to be backstopped by the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur and Fede Valverde in the midfield.

As always, Uruguay’s rearguard is to be marshalled by the experienced centre-half duo of Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez to act as a shield for first-choice goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. 

 
Colombia are reinforced by Europe-based stars

Like Uruguay, Colombia head into this match with confidence given their rejuvenated frontline.

Porto’s Luis Diaz, who has scored five goals in his last 10 appearances for Los Cafeteros, will be joined by Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata and the returning Radamel Falcao -who is their all-time leading scorer with 35 goals.

All of them would have to gel quickly especially with Miguel Borja suffering an ankle injury playing in Brazil’s Serie A last Sunday.

Colombia will be further reinforced with the call-ups of Davinson Sanchez, Yerry Mina, and Jefferson Lerma – who were all absent last September due to the quarantine complications from the UK government.

Davinson Sanchez and Yerry Mina are expected to start at the centre-backs to cover for goalkeeper David Ospina, while Lerma will be pushing for a spot in the midfield alongside Wilmar Barrios and Mateus Uribe. 

History 

Uruguay hold the advantage in the overall head-to-heads against Colombia.

In their last 16 international games prior to Thursday, La Celeste recorded eight wins while Los Cafeteros have only won four times along with four draws.

Their previous encounter took place in the Copa America quarter-final last July where Colombia advanced to the final four as they beat Uruguay via penalties.

In the said tournament, Colombia finished third after losing to eventual champions Argentina and winning over Peru subsequently.

In their previous World Cup 2022 qualifiers meeting, however, Uruguay overwhelmed Colombia 3-0 which was crucial since it pushed La Celeste up to the CONMEBOL standings after coming in at sixth.

It was Oscar Tabarez’s 100^th win as Uruguay manager while it was the heaviest home defeat by Colombia in a competitive setting in 82 years.

Betting Tip

Uruguay Asian Handicap -0.50 @ 2.04

The World Cup 2022 odds point to a victory for the hosts, but they’ll have to earn it since they only have a small margin of error.

Uruguay are favoured to win at 2.03, while Colombia are priced at 3.70 and a draw is installed at 3.15 in the 1×2 market.

La Celeste and Los Cafeteros possess an abundance of talent and we won’t be surprised if this game can go either way while seeing a healthy amount of goals.

But in the end, we are inclined to give Uruguay the slight edge given their historical advantage over Colombia and because they’ve been superb playing at home.

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

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