Colombia face Brazil tonight in Santiago knowing they must avoid defeat to have any hope of qualifying for the Copa America quarter final, following their shock opening game defeat to Venezuela, only the fifth game the Venezuelans’ have ever won from 67 attempts in the competition.
Their opponents, however, also struggled in their opening game, only defeating Peru 2-1 thanks to a last minute Douglas Costa winner, despite their status as heavy favourites. Dunga’s men will certainly need to raise their game if they are to beat a Colombian side who will be desperate for revenge after their defeat in last year’s World Cup quarter final.
A win for Brazil will see their passage into the quarter final guaranteed, while a defeat for the Colombians will see them head home.
Copa America duels
This will be the tenth meeting between Brazil and Colombia in the Copa America. The first tie came on January 21, 1945, also in Santiago, Chile, and was won 3-0 by the Seleção.
After nine games, Brazil are on seven victories against their rivals, with one 0-0 draw coming in 1989 and Colombians sole, 2-0 win coming in 1991.
Memorable routs
In those games Brazil have inflicted a number of crushing defeats on the Colombians, the first in 1949 with a score of 5-0 followed by a 9-0 thrashing in 1957 and a 5-1 win in 1963.
Dunga on the scoresheet!
Current Brazil Dunga was the first scorer in the two sides’ last meeting in this competition in 1997 with striker Edmundo, also known as ‘the animal’, also getting on the scoresheet for the Brazilians.
With so much riding on the game, fans can expect this tie to be up their with the best of those historical encounters, especially if the likes of Neymar and James Rodriguez play to their full potential.
The likely starting line-ups are as follows:
Brazil:
Jefferson; Daniel Alves, Miranda, David Luiz Filipe Luís; Fernandinho, Elias, Fred (Philippe Coutinho) and Willian; Neymar and Diego Tardelli
Colombia:
David Ospina; Zúñiga, Cristian Zapata, Jeison Murillo and Darwin Andrade; Valencia, Carlos Sánchez Cuadrado and James Rodríguez; Falcão García and Carlos Bacca
