Peru vs Colombia
Peru host Colombia at the Estadio Nacional on Friday as the road to the 2022 Qatar World Cup opens up again. Both nations have made a slow start to the campaign and need a win.
With the CONMEBOL resuming this week and South America’s big football nations back in action the World Cup 2022 match between Peru and Colombia is a fixture worth a closer look.
It’s a battle between neighbours as the hosts who are at the wrong end of the qualification table after four rounds welcome their visitors who have a host of household names in their squad but are in danger of losing touch with the leaders.
Let’s run the rule over the two teams and their current form and then see where the best value is in the latest pre-match World Cup 2022 betting odds.
Talking Points
Peru has a steep climb ahead
The Colombia players will head south over the border to a nation famous for its mountains in the spectacular Andes range, which run from the North to the Southeast of the country.
So Peruvians are used to climbing, but head coach Ricardo Gareca’s task is to lift his team away from the base camp in the South American qualification group.
Los Incas started the campaign by drawing with Paraguay, but have since lost to three big guns Brazil, Chile, and Argentina and so they sit in ninth place in the CONMEBOL table with only Bolivia below.
They are not blessed with the best players in South America but they do have some high quality individuals.
Celta Vigo’s 25-year-old midfielder Renato Tapia is a class act, while upfront, Al Hilal attacking midfielder Andre Carrillo has three goals and a couple of World Cup 2022 highlights in the campaign so far.
The six-footer can play up front in a more advanced position or on the wing where he appeared in the Premier League for Watford while on loan from Benfica. Now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia, he remains a handful and is Peru’s biggest goal threat.
Colombia’s deadly duo can turn things around
After starting the campaign by beating Venezuela and drawing with Chile, Los Cafeteros had a nightmare November, losing 3-0 at home to Uruguay before taking a 6-1 hammering at the hands of Ecuador.
They currently sit in seventh position on four points and eight behind leaders Brazil. But they can shoot their way up the table if Atalanta’s strike duo of Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata hit form.
These two have worked in tandem for the Serie A club with devastating effect over the past two seasons as Atalanta have landed top four places in succession.
While La Dea had a Champions League place in their grasp for much of the season, it was a different story for Colombia winger Juan Cuadrado and his team Juventus, who had to battle to the last before sneaking into the top four on the final day.
As well as being blessed with some of the finest talent in the Italian league, head coach Reinaldo Rueda has players from the Premier League in his ranks.
In defence he can play Everton’s powerful centre-back Yerry Mina alongside Spurs’ Davinson Sanchez.
After a promising first half of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, Tottenham’s season tailed off and Sanchez will hope to improve his own year with a big performance for Colombia.
Bournemouth’s midfield ace Jefferson Lerma could also make a start. At 26 years of age, he is moving into his prime and the Cherries saw enough to pay £30-M to sign him from La Liga club Levante.
History
Both teams have had successful World Cup campaigns in the past. Colombia were quarterfinalists in 2014 while Peru reached the last eight in 1970.
In terms of head-to-heads, Colombia have dominated this matchup by winning nine of the last 17 meetings, drawing seven and losing just once.
Back in 2019, Colombia beat Peru 3-0 in a Copa America warmup game, thanks to two goals from Mateus Uribe and a third from Zapata.
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