How should the Colombian National Team play without Europe? Probable Lineup, Playoffs | Colombia selection

The Colombian National Team is waiting, like everyone else in South America: will the triple date of the Qatar 2022 Qualifiers be played or not? For the coaching staff there is no time to wait for confirmations and therefore, against all odds, they have to assume that there will be competition and take all precautions to have a solid Plan B and, especially, a winner.

At this time, coach Reinaldo Rueda has 7 possible absences from his call: David Ospina, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Luis Muriel, Yerry Mina, Dávinson Sánchez, Luis Díaz and Matheus Uribe. They are not only the usual headlines but players with the experience, international touch and the shooting that a Eliminatory requires. That is why the task of replacing them is so complex.

But if it were inevitable, here, a first test against Bolivia, in La Paz, the challenge of September 2. for the arch, instead of Ospina, an ideal candidate is Camilo Vargas. Not only because he is the most experienced in selection after Ospina in the position, but because he has total confidence from the coach and his teammates, because he has two World Cups on top and, not least: he plays at 1,500 meters of altitude, in Atlas de México.

In defense, if there is no agreement between the clubs of Europe and FIFA, Mina and Dávinson, the fixed behind, will not be able to be there. But there are options: a first is Óscar Murillo, a 33-year-old player with a lot of experience in the National Team, a World Cup player, and another definitive detail: he plays in Pachuca at 2,400 meters of altitude. It is the safest option, even though those of the Premier league were there. doubt is your partner. An alternative is Carlos Cuesta, a young and agile man, but who has against the lack of filming in the senior team. Another option is William Tesillo, who plays as a center-back for his club, León de México, at an altitude of 2,000 meters.

So who would be a left back? The one Rueda cited for the Copa América in that position: Yairo Moreno, a naturally left-handed player, who plays in the position and who has just arrived at Pachuca, at 2,400 meters of altitude, Murillo’s, who would be his partner behind. For the right-back, the ideal option is Andrés Felipe Román, the outstanding student of the morphocycle and key man of Millonarios … playing at 2,600 meters of altitude.

Matheus Uribe would be missing in the midfield. And there would come a bet that the DT already worked with Borja: a Libertadores champion under his command, like Alex Mejía, who returned to the country to be on the National Team’s radar and now plays at the height of the capital, with Santa Faith. He is a World Cup player, a veteran and a ‘canchero’ in key instances. At his side could be Gustavo Cuéllar, who played in the June Qualifiers and in the Copa América, or Baldomero Perlaza himself, who was in the last 40-day training camp in Rueda.

The attack is the other sector to reinforce: without Cuadrado and without Díaz, nothing less than the axis and the scorer of the last Copa América, the task of the replacements is titanic. In the right sector you can use Daniel Muñoz, who in the past played as a midfielder, or with Yerson Candelo, the man who plays in the position of Juan Guillermo at Atlético Nacional. On the other side, it would be necessary to hasten the arrival of a man who is on a roll: Luis Sinisterra.

In point, without Muriel and with Duván Zapata’s injury that took him out of the squad, there is for now no striker who surpasses the strength of Roger Martínez, a man with a happy past in the National Team in the 2019 Copa América and who plays in the DF, at 2,200 meters of altitude. Another option would be to take risks, with Santos Borré and Borja (they already played together in the Cup), or a creative like Quintero behind one of them … Falcao, if that were the case, would be an alternative in a short period, since it comes without lots of activity.