World Cup Warm-up: Colombia vs Japan - South American's looking to lay early marker

Four years ago, Colombia stole the hearts of neutrals as they excelled in Brazil. However, their route to Russia was far choppier. A four-match winless run almost saw them throw away their automatic qualification spot as they finished just one point above Peru. 

Having successfully secured their spot at Russia 2018, though, they were drawn in perhaps the most difficult group to predict. They kick off proceedings in Group H against Japan on Tuesday in a bid to secure their last-16 spot. The Samurai Blue’s preparations has been muddled to say the least. Akira Nishino only took over the reins in April and their form has been questionable in the build up to the World Cup. 

Two wins from seven isn’t exceptional, while they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in eight matches, last doing so in a 1-0 win over North Korea back in December. Colombia have the means to really put Japan to the sword on Tuesday in Jose Pekerman’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. 

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James Rodriguez comes into the World Cup as the Bundesliga’s highest rated player, with a WhoScored.com rating of 7.63, and he’ll reunite with Falcao in the final third. In Juan Cuadrado and Matheus Uribe, Pekerman has two nippy wingers that can stretch opponents on a whim and Japan will need to remain compact in order to keep Colombia at bay. 

Los Cafeteros have ample strength in depth too, with Carlos Bacca, Luis Muriel, Jose Izquierdo and Juan Quintero all able to step in and hurt opponents, so if the going does get tough against Japan, Pekerman can just look to his bench for sufficient firepower. 

Of course, Colombia’s form ahead of the World Cup has been sub-par with just two wins from the last nine to write home about. Back-to-back 0-0 draws with Australia and Egypt suggests they struggle to break staunch opponents down and Japan will hope to draw inspiration from their performances to upset the odds on Tuesday. 

However, if the Colombia attack clicks as it should, then they are likely to have no problems with earning a vital three points in the Group H opener.

Writer Predictions:

Martin Laurence - Colombia 2-0 Japan

Ben McAleer - Colombia 2-0 Japan

Josh Wright - Colombia 3-0