Copa America: Colombia vs Bolivia preview

July 9, 2011
By: Frank Beresford

Colombia are already through to the next stage, but they now want to secure the first place in the group, whereas Bolivia need a victory in order to join los Cafeteros in the quarter-finals.

With the likes of Falcao, Guarin, Zuniga and Armero in the side, Colombia were always considered one of the teams that could go far at the 2011 Copa America and los Cafeteros are so far living to the expectations.

Following the hard fought victory over Costa Rica in their opening games, Hernan Gomez’s side completely outplayed hosts Argentina, but had to settle for one point after missing a host of clear-cut chances.

Everybody is waiting for one of the most prolific strikers in world football, Radamel Falcao Garcia to score his first goal of the tournament with the Porto star 2.10 (11/10) at 888Sport to score against Bolivia.

With absolutely no selection worries on his mind, coach Hernan Gomez has already announced that he will field the same line-up that started the Argentina game.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Martinez – Zuniga, Perea, Yepes, Armero – Sanchez, Moreno, Aguiar, Guarin – Ramos, Falcao.

Having earned one point from their opening game against Argentina, Bolivia had a great chance to secure their passage into the next round with a win over Costa Rica.

However, Gustavo Quinteros’ side just couldn’t repeat the performance from their opening game and ended up losing the match.

Not only did La Verde lose the game, but they lost three players as well, with Ronald Rivero, Walter Flores and Luis Gutierrez all suspended for the Columbia game.

Seeing that Bolivia players are very low on confidence following the unexpected defeat, I see a good value in backing Colombia at odds of 1.62 (8/13) offered by Paddy Power.

In the absence of three first team regulars, Lorgio Alvarez is expected to move to left-back, whereas Christian Vargas or Miguel Hoyos will start on the right.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Arias – Hoyos, Raldes, Vargas, Alvarez – Edvaldo, Robles, Garcia, Campos – Martins, Arce.

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