The Colombian National Team designs its plan to face Venezuela this Tuesdayin Puerto Ordaz, in the final match, which is now the most important of all, and in which they need to win and hope that Peru does not, to go to the World Cup playoff in Qatar (or tie and Peru lose and chili tie).
DT Reinaldo Rueda anticipated that he will not have many changes with respect to the team that beat Bolivia, but there will be one required: that of the suspended Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, which opens up possibilities for another midfielder. And there goes the great uncertainty of the payroll that the DT chooses.
As it is a game in theory of greater difficulty than the previous one, and of visitors, and against coach José Pékerman, who knows Colombia well, it is foreseeable that Rueda will choose to replace Cuadrado with a man with a better brand, who will can help secure the midfield and not take so many risks in the midst of his quest to find the winning goal.
With two or three ruffles?
Against Bolivia he played with three midfielders, but the one in charge of that brand function, and without disheveled, was Gustavo Cuéllar, and not Wílmar Barrios, who was the usual one. Cuéllar was accompanied by two men with an offensive vocation, James Rodríguez and Cuadrado. Now, if what is intended is to return to the ‘double 5’, Matheus Uribe, Jefferson Lerma and Wílmar Barrios are on the waiting list.
Rueda himself said so yesterday, when asked about Cuadrado’s replacement. “We are missing a training session, we have been working on the two alternatives: either Wílmar Barrios or Matheus Uribe, or Lerma himself. We have several alternatives to form the team in this game, ”he said without giving any more clues about it.
Barrios was the fixture of the position and would be a key man for this duel. He has been in 15 of the 19 games in this tie against Qatar. Matheus Uribe has been his most usual teammate throughout the tie, with 13 games played. He started as a substitute against Bolivia, but came on just for Cuadrado, and scored a goal. So he is the first choice to play tomorrow. In addition, he has the double function of helping to recover and start the team. Although that is a task in which the Porto de Portugal man is still in debt.
Lerma could also do it, as Rueda said, because he is another man with experience and who can fulfill the double role, of mark and start. But there is Cuéllar, who could repeat ownership, because Rueda said that he would not make many changes; what is not expected is that he goes out to risk his life with two of such a mark, when what is needed is to win.
In that sense, if Reinaldo’s idea is to maintain the proposal from last Thursday’s game, with which he returned to victory after 7 games, or something similar, he could play it again with three midfielders in that first line. This is how the coach admitted it: “It is the option that is handled, like against Bolivia, which was practically a line of three with Cuéllar and James and Cuadrado advanced. We have tried in these training sessions the two possibilities, line of two or three. Today we will do the theoretical work, to see the best alternative both for our men and to counteract the rival’s proposal”.
The line of three is a proposal that would have variants with respect to the one that has already been experienced, not only due to the absence of Cuadrado, but also because it needs to have more balance. Another game in which he used it was in the visit against Brazil, when Barrios, Lerma and Yairo Moreno played, so it is not ruled out that the latter is also in the DT’s plans, given his condition, his technique and the good feelings that he left when he entered against Bolivia.
James and Quintero?
One of the unknowns that is handled is whether Rueda will be encouraged to join James and Juan Fernando Quintero at the same time. They are two of the most skilled players for creating play, for their precise short and long passes, as both demonstrated, at different times, against Bolivia. Both have not played together since the friendly against Costa Rica in the United States, in 2019.
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