World Cup warm up: Will Lewandowski or Falcao break World Cup duck?

To think that last week’s encounters were the first of Robert Lewandowski and Radamel Falcao’s World Cup careers is quite remarkable.

The pair have been among the most prolific goalscorers in world football for much of the last decade but neither had made their bow on the game’s grandest stage until last week.

It was a debut of sorts for both that they will each be keen to forget though, captaining their nations to defeats that have put huge pressure on this meeting between Poland and Colombia.

Much of the pair’s status as the favourites to escape an admittedly competitive group was down to their talismanic front men after all, whose pedigree cannot be called into question.

However, it was an off day for the two hotshot strikers last Tuesday, and both will be looking to make amends as they prepare to go head-to-head in Kazan this evening.

It’s Colombia that are backed as the favourites to come out on top with the bookmakers as both sides bid to keep their chances of progression alive, though there’s a swing when it comes to the goalscorer markets.

Indeed, while it’s Falcao and co. that are favoured to get all three points, his opposite number has shorter odds to find the net when the two come to blows. That’s despite the fact that Lewandowski looked like the player that struggle to make an impact in the group stages of the European championships two years ago, mustering just two shots and one on target, set against averages of 5.3 and 2.3 per 90 minutes for Bayern last season.

The 29-year-old secured a meagre WhoScored.com rating of 6.30 as a result, and while his Colombian counterpart didn’t score much higher (6.36), he had a reasonable excuse.

Falcao had, after all, looked lively in the first half against Japan but as Colombia began to feel the affects of playing with ten men for much of the game, the Monaco man became more isolated in the second half. He too had two shots but tested the keeper with both and required fewer shots than Lewandowski to score in the league last season.

With the 32-year-old knowing that this may not just be his first ever World Cup but also his last, he’ll be desperate to get on the scoresheet and at 2.80 with Betfair represents a good price to do so in tonight’s pivotal Group H showdown.