Bogotá – With the inspiration of Luis Díaz and the driving of James Rodríguez, Colombia will leave this Thursday for a triumph against Bolivia that allows him to obtain his classification to the World Cup that will be played in 2026 in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
After six games without winning, the Colombian National Team reaches the last double date of the South American Qualifiers with 22 points and occupies the sixth position, the last one that gives a direct quota to the next World Cup.
Only Argentina, leader with 35 units, as well as Ecuador and Brazil, who share the second place with 25 points, have their ticket secured. Uruguay and Paraguay accumulate 24, while Bolivia is outside the classification positions, with 17 points, one less than Venezuela, which momentarily holds access to intercontinental repechage.
Although Colombia has not obtained a victory in the Qualifiers since it valed 4-0 to Chile on October 15, 2024, it will get the pass if it expires to Bolivia, or even with a draw if Venezuela does not defeat Argentina in Buenos Aires. Otherwise, the coffee growers will play their last letter on the closing day, at home against Venezuela.
Bolivia does not depend on herself and needs to add to Colombians and on Tuesday against Brazil at home, in addition to waiting for other results.
In the Metropolitan Stadium, in Barranquilla, Colombia will rely on the good moment of Díaz, who adds three goals and two assists in four official matches with Bayern Munich, which signed it in July from Liverpool for 87 million dollars.
Díaz is the maximum gunner of the qualifiers with seven annotations, one more than the Argentine Lionel Messi and the Bolivian Miguel Terceres.
“On Thursday all joined for a single dream,” Rodríguez wrote on his Instagram account. The Colombian captain aspires to play his third World Cup, after his participation in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.
James, who has militates since last year in the Mexican Leon, leads the classification phase with five assists.
The Argentine coach of Colombia, Néstor Lorenzo, has the casualties due to accumulation of admonitions of the side Daniel Muñoz and the wheel Kevin Castaño. Nor will the Deiver Machado defense or attacker Jhon Durán be due to injury.
“We all have positive energy, we are looking forward to the game to have that World Cup dream closer,” said Luis Suárez, Ariete del Sporting of Portugal, who fights a position in the alignment with Jhon Córdoba, signing of the Russian Krasnodar.
One of the novelties of the tricolor call is the presence of Dayro Moreno, 39, who was first summoned since 2016 due to his performances with Once Caldas in the South American Cup, in which he has stood out with eight goals.
Bolivia, without margin of error
Although he never won or scored goals in his seven visits to Colombia for qualifiers, Green needs to break the hegemony of its rival to keep alive the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup.
“Reaching this last date with possibilities fills us with satisfaction,” said Bolivia coach Oscar Villegas. “No selection, which is classified or in the race, is to give anything. The points and prestige of a country are played.”
One of the doubts of the Bolivian team is in the goal, where ownership is debated among the experienced Carlos Lampe, 38, and Guillermo Viscarra, 32.
Lampe, recovered from the Achilles heel break that suffered in the victory of Bolivia 2-1 as a visitor to Chile in September last year, led to the Bolivar to the quarterfinals of the South American Cup by maintaining its undefeated arch in the duels against Palestine and Cienciano.
Viscarra has also been a figure in the regional tournament by defending the fence of Alianza Lima, which advanced to the round of the eight best after beating Gremio and Universidad Católica.
