Colombia begin their road to Brazil 2014 with a tricky trip to La Paz where they will meet hosts Bolivia at the Hernando Siles stadium on Tuesday.
The Colombians had a bye in the first round of the South American World Cup qualifiers which commenced on Friday, and took advantage of this by acclimatising themselves to the altitude of the Bolivian capital, which stands at 3,650 metres above sea level.
Due to the clear effects of the altitude, Colombia will field a defensive-minded formation, with Racing Club's Teofilo Gutierrez getting the nod ahead of Atletico Madrid ace Radamel Falcao Garcia, as the team's lone striker.
Leonel Alvarez, the coach of Colombia, explained the reason for only selecting one striker for the World Cup qualifier:
"The teams who have gone to La Paz with an offensive approach have returned with defeats."
Colombia have won only one of ten matches staged in La Paz in the past, and will be looking to overturn this negative statistic.
Having produced an abundance of talent in recent years, Colombia will be hoping to make the most of their stars, as they intend to qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1998. They definitely have the material, however, as they demonstrated at the Copa America they tend to buckle under pressure. Despite it being Colombia's first match, their Bolivia test is likely to reveal their strengths and weaknesses.
Rivals Bolivia fell to a 4-2 defeat against Uruguay in Montevideo on Friday, where they struggled much more than the result suggests, as they could have lost the match by a much greater difference.
As has always been the case in the World Cup qualifiers, Bolivia will try to take full advantage of the altitude, which has played in their favour on several occasions, such as was the case in 2009 when they hammered Diego Maradona´s Argentina 6-1.
Bolivia boss, Gustavo Quinteros, will confront the match with an offensive scheme, as his team intend to claim their first three points of the World Cup qualifiers.
As was evident in Montevideo, Bolivia's main target man in attack is Marcelo Martins Moreno. The Shakhtar Donetsk striker converted a penalty kick against Uruguay in Bolivia's World Cup qualifying debut.
Due to the clear effects of the altitude, Colombia will field a defensive-minded formation, with Racing Club's Teofilo Gutierrez getting the nod ahead of Atletico Madrid ace Radamel Falcao Garcia, as the team's lone striker.
Leonel Alvarez, the coach of Colombia, explained the reason for only selecting one striker for the World Cup qualifier:
"The teams who have gone to La Paz with an offensive approach have returned with defeats."
Colombia have won only one of ten matches staged in La Paz in the past, and will be looking to overturn this negative statistic.
Having produced an abundance of talent in recent years, Colombia will be hoping to make the most of their stars, as they intend to qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1998. They definitely have the material, however, as they demonstrated at the Copa America they tend to buckle under pressure. Despite it being Colombia's first match, their Bolivia test is likely to reveal their strengths and weaknesses.
Rivals Bolivia fell to a 4-2 defeat against Uruguay in Montevideo on Friday, where they struggled much more than the result suggests, as they could have lost the match by a much greater difference.
As has always been the case in the World Cup qualifiers, Bolivia will try to take full advantage of the altitude, which has played in their favour on several occasions, such as was the case in 2009 when they hammered Diego Maradona´s Argentina 6-1.
Bolivia boss, Gustavo Quinteros, will confront the match with an offensive scheme, as his team intend to claim their first three points of the World Cup qualifiers.
As was evident in Montevideo, Bolivia's main target man in attack is Marcelo Martins Moreno. The Shakhtar Donetsk striker converted a penalty kick against Uruguay in Bolivia's World Cup qualifying debut.
