La Celeste take on the in-form continental champions intent on bouncing back from last week’s defeat to Ecuador and on staying in among them leaders.
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Chile will meanwhile face a repeat of their stormy Copa America clash with Uruguay in which Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Jara will meet for the first time following their clash in July. Colombia have no fluidity to their play and everything goes through Real Madrid star James Rodriguez who did net the equaliser against Chile.
Sanchez and Santiago Arias will also be unavailable for selection due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Without Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Carlos Tevez, Argentina still managed to find enough offense to hold off Colombia in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday at Metropolitano Roberto Melendez Stadium in Barranquilla, 1-0.
Gerardo Martino’s side are ninth in their pool, seven points adrift of an Ecuador side that leads the standings with three wins from three matches.
“We had one less day of rest and played in an oppressive climate”.
Yasmani Duk scored for Bolivia, which as three points. Buoyed by their handsome win over Venezuela, La Verde have a handful of injuries and suspensions to contend with and will be forced to reshuffle their pack for what promises to be a testing assignment in the Paraguayan capital.
Peru beat Paraguay last week, putting a little more pressure on Brazil today.
“Everyone wants to play against Argentina, it’s match that motivates”, he said. Peru are going to fight and scrape and claw for all 90 minutes, and while they may not be as good as Brazil on paper, their smashmouth defense and hard-working attack will do everything they can to minimize that gap. A mainstay of Ricardo Gareca’s side and a potent threat up front, the man they call The Predator will be looking to maintain his rich vein of form.
Argentina has just two points from its first three matches after blowing a 1-0 lead against Brazil at home in Buenos Aires and settling for a 1-1 draw.
Tata Martino will be hoping his team get a similar result like the one four years ago which launched them on the road to the 2014 World Cup finals. This is a tough game for Colombia and I think they may be best served by going with the experience of Falcao but we’ll see what Jose Pekerman goes with.
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The beaten World Cup finalists are next in action away to Copa America nemesis Chile on March 23.
