Colombia is better than Peru. Colombia is third in the qualifying round, and is the runner-up in the Copa America. Peru, on the other hand, is last in the South American qualifying tournament and was last in its group in the Copa America.
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However, Colombia ended up saving the point in Lima last Friday. Peru was leading 1-0 and had them in a tighter situation than saying a tongue twister in Chinese.
Now, Argentina comes to Barranquilla as the best team on the planet, the current world champion, the recent two-time Copa América champion… They are more, they are better.
However, football is football and why not? The local hope is that Colombia will end up making a splash and will indulge itself by beating Argentina.
It won’t be an easy match, for sure.
It’s easy to say it. It’s hard to do it. It already happened in the recent Copa America final, when Argentina won 1-0 in extra time, the only defeat that Colombia has suffered in the 27 matches since Néstor Lorenzo took over as coach two years, two months and two weeks ago.
And they won without Lionel Messi on the pitch. He will not be there today either, and it is not known whether Mac Allister or Nico González will finally play due to physical discomfort. It seemed that they could.
They should not go around with the story that this is the worst Argentina in recent times because of these possible casualties! I know the air pumps that put pressure on.
Argentina’s last performance without Messi was the 3-0 thrashing of Chile last Thursday.
Argentina vs. Chile
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It was a solid team, that knows what it is playing, with the main strength of its orchestral harmony, more than the brilliance of its soloists, which it obviously has.
Its foundation is to take control of the midfield, keeping the ball safe, with patience, not necessarily at high speed, in order to suddenly sink the fangs into the rival’s carotid artery. Just ask the bleeding Chile…
And scoring a goal against Argentina is difficult. They press aggressively when they lose the ball and try to push their opponents against the ropes on the sides to take away their space to move. In one-on-one situations they are very tough: if they have to kick, there is no shame.
Argentina is better than Colombia, that’s clear, but, with a yellow, blue and red heart, oh, how good it would be to beat them and spit out a couple of stuck ones with them!
Messi on the ground
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This is not a rematch of the last Copa America final: even if they win, they will not give the trophy to James. And mind you, they have not lost in Barranquilla for 31 years. Today, most likely with James in the starting line-up and John Jáder Durán as ‘9’, the key to Colombia’s game is in the attitude, in taking on each one-on-one, each one against one, as if it were the last one of their lives, in the blind desire to win. It is super-key to have the ball, for Richard Ríos and Jhon Arias to assume their leading role and not get lost like in Lima. Let them give James a hand. And let the blunders against Uruguay, for example, in the 2-2 draw in the last qualifying round, not be repeated in defence.
A draw wouldn’t be bad, really, but how nice would it be if Colombia could give itself that treat…
Well, a 1-0 would be ‘the’ pleasure!
Meluk tells him…
Gabriel Meluk
Sports Editor
@MelukLeCuenta
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