This Tuesday, March 29, the Colombian national team will visit Venezuela to play the last date of the South American Qualifiers to Qatar 2022. In the last match, which was against Bolivia, the national team opened up a small chance of going to the World Cup after winning 3-0.
The final day will be crucial for Colombia, as it will depend on the results of other matches to be able to go to the repechage. Now, it should be borne in mind that there are two more teams that are in the same situation as the squad led by Reinaldo Rueda: Peru and Chile.
To continue dreaming of going to the World Cup in Qatar, it must be borne in mind that the Colombian team is in sixth place in the standings, with 20 points; one down from Peru, which is fifth, so it will have to beat Venezuela and hope that the Gareca team does not score the three points against Paraguay; and that Chile beats Uruguay, since with this score he would manage to seal his way to the repechage.
For this last date Juan Fernando Quintero is again in doubt, as Reinaldo Rueda gave a press conference prior to the match against Pekerman's team in which he announced that the River Plate midfielder had suffered a small concussion. Before this announcement, the alarms were set off as it could not be part of the team that participates in this commitment, considering that Colombia has two more casualties.
“James and Juanfer were together for a few minutes in the previous game and hopefully we have that alternative. Juanfer had a small concussion to Bolivia, but it's not delicate at all. Hopefully we can have both of them without any problem,” said the coach vallecaucano at a press conference. Given that against Venezuela, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado cannot be counted on by reprimand or Alfredo Morelos due to injury.
On the other hand, Quintero and Rodriguez have played 12 games together. Seven friendly matches and five official matches, three of them in World Cups and two by Playoffs. In addition, together they have achieved 10 wins, a draw and a loss against Brazil in 2014. Between the two they add five scores and nine assists.
Now, it should be noted that the national team is placed in the number 6 square of the standings of the South American Qualifiers for Qatar 2022 with 20 points and no goals against. Now, in this position and with these units, mathematically, Colombia has one foot in and one foot out, since it has a chance to go to the World Cup by defining it by a repechage match, but it depends on the results of Chile and Peru.
Assuming that the national team scores all three points in these two matches, it needs Peru to draw or lose to Uruguay in Montevideo and Paraguay in Lima. That is to aspire to a repechage that will be played in June. And, if the 'tricolor' is in the fifth box, the World Cup draw will be held until next April 1. But it must be clear that only a miracle will have Reinaldo Rueda's team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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