They will have that chance on Thursday.
Advertisement
Uruguay have Paris St. Germain striker Cavani back against Ecuador on Thursday after a two-game ban and are looking to maintain a good run.
Brazil will win if… This, though, feels different. Even with Radamel Falcao in decline, this is as good a Colombia side as there has been in two decades.
ArgentinaFinalists at the last World Cup, Argentina’s attempt to go one better in Russian Federation 2018 is now underway, and it could hardly have got off to a worse start.
Argentina suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Ecuador in their opening game and then laboured to a goalless stalemate against Paraguay in Asuncion.
Projected starting XI for Argentina: Romero; Peruzzi, Otamendi, Funes Mori, Roncaglia; Perez, Mascherano, Pastore; Di Maria, Higuain, Correa. This is a team that is still haunted from that world cup semi final hammering by Germany and they must make amends.
Brazil is hardly in a better shape.
This game will also be exciting since both teams did not really exert much effort in their qualifiers last month.
The underlying reasons for Neymar’s petulance that night in Santiago, though, have not been addressed.
Ronaldinho, who represented Barcelona between 2003 and 2008, has also branded the current Brazil captain “a great friend”.
He pointed to the injuries of Aguero and Carlos Tevez as a massive blow which may give Brazil the slight edge. Every Argentine dreamed of lifting a third World Cup on Brazilian soil and the prospect of that was horrifying for Brazil.
In the next round of qualifiers on Tuesday, it’s: Colombia vs. Argentina, Venezuela vs. Ecuador, Paraguay vs. Bolivia, Uruguay vs. Chile, and Brazil vs. Peru. It is one more motivation to beat Brazil.
There were a few question marks over his temperament after his brainless sending off for Brazil in the Copa America in the summer, but since returning to Barcelona to start the season he appears to have taken it upon himself to be a more mature and responsible leader of the team.
Advertisement
That, though, was six years ago. The world moves on, but Brazilian football seems stuck in an unhelpful time-warp.
