Brazil and Colombia will face off in Manaus, Brazil, in the eighth round of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers in what promises to be a hotly contested match.
Barcelona’s star forward Neymar will lead Brazil and Real Madrid’s midfielder James Rodriguez will lead Colombia, currently third in the standings, to a match that is vital for the aspirations of both teams to stay in the qualifying zone of the regional tournament.
The top four teams of the qualifiers earn an automatic ticket to the 2018 World Cup in Russia while the fifth will advance to an intercontinental playoff against a team from Oceania.
Despite the troubled start to this qualifying process and occupying the fifth place in the table, Brazilian fans and press are expecting a good result since the team is coming off a 0-3 victory away against Ecuador. Furthermore, people’s belief in Brazilian soccer was reborn after their u-23 team won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics led by an inspired Neymar that is now the driving force behind this new version of the “verdeamarelha”
Colombia won’t be an easy opponent however, as they are also in good form and will provide a good test to measure how much this Brazilian side has grown since Adenor Leonardo Bachi “Tite,” was appointed as coach on June 20, 2016.
The last few games between these two South American sides have been very tight and full of emotions. During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil the local side won 2-1, later in a friendly game in September of that same year Brazil won 1-0. In the 2015 Copa America Colombia won against Brazil 1-0 for the first time in 24 years, however they lost 2-0in the quarterfinals the 2016 Olympic Games.
Colombia’s argentine head coach Jose Pekerman, will have to find a defensive scheme to stop or at least contain Neymar and the rest of the Brazilian strikers. He will need defenders like Santiago Arias and Jeison Murillo atop of their game if they want to come out of this match with at least a point.
On the offensive front, the Colombians will use striker Carlos Bacca and wingers James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado as the main weapons to engineer goal-scoring plays.
