Argentina vs Colombia Preview

Topics: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Radamel falcao, James Rodriguez

With the domestic competitions reaching their conclusion in Europe, a lot of attention will be diverted to international contests as a star studded Argentina side takes on Colombia in a World Cup Qualifying match.

Team News

Argentina star man Lionel Messi is still nursing a hamstring injury which has kept him out of much of the action in May. Should the mercurial forward fail to recover from injury, Argentina have in their ranks a hoard of attacking talent which can replace the Barcelona man.Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, Juventus bound Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain and PSG attacker Ezequiel Lavezzi have all been named in Alejandro Sabella's 23-man squad.

Former Valencia man Fernando Gago who had been omitted from the preliminary squad, has been recalled and is one of the three domestically based players which have been included in the squad.

Both Fabricio Coloccini of Newcastle and Anderlecht midfielder Lucas Biglia have earned recalls, whereas Nicolas Gaitan following a less than impressive campaign with Benfica has been left out .

Monaco duo Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez will be the centre of attraction as far as Colombia is concerned. Colombia will be captained by former Milan defender Mario Yepes who represented the Rosonneri on 38 occasions. Other notable mentions include Fredy Guarín of Inter Milan and Atlético Nacional midfielder Macnelly Torres.

Analysis

Both the teams boast some immense attacking talents which should account for an interesting tie. Colombia have in their ranks one of the hottest properties in Europe in the shape of Radamel Falcao, who scored 34 goals last season for Spanish outfit Atlético Madrid. He will be accompanied by his Monaco teammate James Rodriguez who also enjoyed a fine campaign with Porto, and will be raring to show the world why he is worth the mammoth transfer fees paid by Moncao for his services.

Argentina on the other hand are well equipped themselves and play host to some of the biggest superstars in Europe. Apart from four time Ballon d‘or winner Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain Ezequiel Lavezzi, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria can all be a nightmare for any defence in the world and it will be very difficult for the Colombia defence to keep them at bay. However Argentina are vulnerable when it comes to defending and that is the department they should work on to ensure a victory over Los Cafeteros.

Argentina currently top the group with 24 points from 11 matches, whereas Colombia are third with 19 points but have a game in hand.