Colombia will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers as they travel to Bolivia on Thursday. The Bolivians are showing signs of improvement in recent times but given their poor record in this fixture, Colombia are expected to come out on top.
Bolivia are only just finding their feet in the World Cup qualifiers having endured a difficult start to the campaign. They had suffered five defeats from their opening six matches but have now claimed two straight wins heading into Thursday’s clash.
Having now climbed off the foot of the standings, the task for Bolivia will be to maintain their rise and put themselves in contention to qualify. Although Oscar Villegas’ men are yet to beat any of the leaders, they will take confidence from the 2-1 victory in Chile last time out.
Colombia are enjoying a fine period of success having lost just once in the last 31 matches across all competitions. That run stretches back to March 2022, with the only loss for Nestor Lorenzo’s men, a 1-0 extra-time defeat to Argentina in the Copa America final.
Sitting two points off the pace in the standings, Colombia are the only unbeaten team left in the qualifiers. They finally got their revenge on Argentina, claiming a 2-1 victory over the World Champions last time out in the qualifiers.
How the bookies view it: Closely fought encounter
There is little to separate both teams among the bookies with a win for Bolivia priced at 13/8 by Betfred, who is also offering odds of 8/5 for a Colombia victory. A draw is set at odds of 2/1 by Betfred.
Head to head: Smooth Sailing for Colombia
Colombia have an 11-2 advantage with five draws from 17 previous matches against Bolivia. The Colombians have won five of the last six meetings and triumphed 3-0 during the Copa America back in June.
Players to watch: Colombia’s exciting attack
Colombia have shown plenty of attacking verve in the qualifiers, orchestrated by James Rodriguez, who has been rolling back the years in recent times. The likes of Luis Diaz and Jhon Duran have also impressed and can help the Colombians produce over 0.5 goals at 4/11 by Betfred.
Bolivia have also looked sharp going forward with the duo of Carmelo Algaranaz and Miguel Terceros catching the eye. Both men can ensure the hosts produce over 0.5 goals at 4/11 by Betfred.
Probable line-ups
Bolivia are without goalkeeper Calrlos Lampe, who tore his Achilles tendon in the win over Chile. Guillermo Viscarra is likely to start in goal while Algaranaz and Terceros should feature in attack.
Yerson Mosquera, Rafael Santos Borre and goalkeeper David Ospina are ruled out for Colombia through injury. Camilo Vargas should feature in goal on Thursday while Jefferson LermaDis set to start in midfield, with Duran leading the line.
Bolivia: Viscarra, Medina, Haquin, Suarez, Sagredo, Vaca, Cuellar, Villamil, Terceros, Miranda, Algaranaz
Colombia: Vargas, Mojica, Lucumi, Sanchez, Arias, Lerma, Arias, Rios, Rodriguez, Diaz, Duran
Anything else catch the eye?
Bolivia and Colombia have shown plenty of attacking quality lately and both teams could be backed to score at 5/6 with Betfred. Both teams saw over 2.5 goals in their previous fixtures and a repeat is priced at 6/5 by Betfred, who is also offering 3/1 for over 3.5 goals.
Colombia have opened the scoring in the last six meetings with Bolivia and could be backed to grab the first goal at evens with Betfred.
This World Cup match between Bolivia and Colombia will be played on Oct 10, 2024 and kick off at 21:00. Check below for our tipsters best Bolivia vs Colombia prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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