Two South American powerhouses will clash in the first match of the round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2014 as Colombia and Uruguay cross swords. The match will be played at the iconic Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, June 28.
Colombia have qualified for the second round of the world cup after taking maximum points in their three games in Group C. Uruguay qualified on the back of great, compact performances in their last couple of games in Group D as they beat England and Italy to qualify from the group besides group winners, Costa Rica.
The one bright spot for Colombia in their run up to the knock-out stage has been their attacking play. AS Monaco star James Rodriguez has easily been the best player at this edition of the world cup thus far with three goals and two assists in three matches so far. Rodriguez has terrorized defenders so far in the ongoing tournament and proved to the audiences that he is one of the brightest young talents in world football at the present time.
Jackson Martinez, the Porto striker, joined that party as well in their last group game as he struck twice. The Colombians have a solid midfield and a decent defensive line-up as well which is evident from the fact that they have conceded only a couple of goals in the group stage.
Uruguay took destiny in their own hands as they followed up an unexpected defeat by Costa Rica by a Luis Suarez inspired 2-1 victory over England before they knocked out four time world champions Italy by beating the Azzuris 1-0 in the final group match as Diego Godin scored the crucial goal.
However, the match was marred by poor gamesmanship from Suarez who appeared to bite Georgio Chiellini of Italy in the second half of their match. Suarez, it may be recalled, had committed the same act back when he had been playing at Ajax as well as in the red of Liverpool, and has served a total ban of 17 matches for his indiscretions.
It appears though that the Liverpool forward has not learnt his lesson as the FIFA committee will now sit and consider video evidence against Suarez, who faces a hefty ban for at least the entirety of the ongoing world cup in Brazil.
Uruguay will thus depend on Edinson Cavani and Christian Rodriguez to make things happen in attack while the likes of Nicolas Lodeiro and Egidio Arevalo provide the steel in midfield. Martin Caceres, Godin, Alvaro Pereira and Maxi Pereira are expected to complete the four man defence in front of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, who is in for a busy shift on Saturday.
The chances of Uruguay qualifying are remote as Colombia are overwhelming favourite to overpower an Uruguayan side that will almost certainly be without their talismanic striker when the two teams face off on Saturday.