Colombia receives Paraguay in search of ‘clearing’ its way to Qatar 2022

Colombia and Paraguay will meet on Tuesday at the Metropolitan Stadium in Barranquilla, on the fourteenth day of the South American World Cup qualifiers, a match that will clear the path of one of the two teams to Qatar and it will darken that of the other.

The coffee growers arrive at the party at a time of crisis, not only because of the bad results but also because of the poor performance shown in recent games, while the Albirroja is just starting a project with Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who started off with the left foot after losing 1-0 to Chile in Asunción last Thursday.

Casualties have also marked the preview of the match, as Colombia in addition to the absences for injury to players such as Ramadel Falcao, Matheus Uribe, Yerry Mina, Carlos Cuesta and Stefan Medina, Nor will it have midfielder Wilmar Barrios or left-back Johan Mojica, suspended due to the accumulation of yellows.

Meanwhile, Paraguay will not have the suspended Jorge Morel midfielder, so Barros Schelotto confirmed that he is considering two options: Andrés Cubas or Ángel Cardozo Lucena, who against Chile met a pending suspension date.

It will not be Alejandro Kaku Romero Gamarra, who participated in Sunday’s press conference but was unable to travel to Colombia after giving positive for COVID-19 and he was targeted as one of the Argentine strategist’s headlines in this match.

Also doubtful for this match are midfielders Julio Enciso and Matías Rojas and forward Antonio Sanabria, who have physical problems, although Barros Schelotto said he is confident that they will be available for the match.

Coffee maker concern

The team led by Reinaldo Rueda arrives at the worst moment since the former Chile coach took office at the beginning of the year, as he lost last Thursday to Brazil in Sao Paulo and tied the three previous games.

The criticism of the Colombian national team They are mainly due to their difficulties in creating opportunities and the few goals scored, because precisely in these last four games they did not score a single goal.

On the other hand, it is expected that to replace Mojica the coach will use Yairo Moreno, who played as an interior against Brazil, while Jefferson Lerma and Gustavo Cuéllar appear in the middle of the field as the main options to make up for Barrios’ absence. which has been indispensable for Rueda.

Doubts of Paraguay

The led by Barros Schelotto, who arrived in Barranquilla on Sunday night, They are not living their best moment either and one of the main criticisms that the team received in the debut of the Argentine strategist is that he played very withdrawn in the first half.

However, the Paraguayan coach stated that against Colombia they will go out to seek victory that will allow them to clear the way to Qatar, because if the team loses it will be very far from fifth place, which will play the repechage, and almost no opportunities to go to Qatar when there are four days to go.

The last time Colombia and Paraguay met in Barranquilla was on October 5, 2017 on the penultimate day of the World Cup qualifiers in Russia, a duel in which Albirroja came back with goals from Oscar Tacuara Cardozo at minute 89 and Antonio Sanabria (90 + 3 minutes) to take the three points. (D)

Probable lineups

Colombia

David Ospina; Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Davinson Sánchez, William Tesillo, Yairo Moreno; Jefferson Lerma, Gustavo Cuéllar, Luis Díaz, James Rodríguez; Duván Zapata, Rafael Santos Borré. DT: Reinaldo Rueda.

Paraguay

Antony Silva; Juan Escobar, Gustavo Gómez, Fabián Balbuena, Junior Alonso; Andrés Cubas / Ángel Cardozo Lucena, Matías Rojas, Mathias Villasanti; Ángel Romero, Miguel Almirón, Carlos González. DT: Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina), who will be assisted by his compatriots Gabriel Chade and Cristian Navarro. Venezuelan Juan Soto will be in the VAR.

Stadium: Metropolitan Roberto Meléndez, from Barranquilla.

Hour: 18:00.