Winner Of Colombia vs Senegal Guaranteed to Qualify
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We have had some very exciting matches in the group stages of the 2018 World Cup and we are set for more of the same as Group H draws to a close.
Colombia and Senegal meet at the Samara Arena knowing they must to win the match to book a place in the Round of 16. A draw will mean Poland must defeat Japan and both teams will qualify but neither team can afford to take that risk, especially as Poland have been so poor at the World Cup.
Senegal opened thei World Cup campaign with a match against European qualifiers, Poland. The Poles were being tipped as dark horses by some in this tournament but they were very poor and Senegal took full advantage.
Having taken the lead through a deflected goal, Senegal extended their advantage in the second half, capitalising on individual errors in the Polish team to score. Senegal did not play brilliant football but did enough to win.
Senegal took the lead twice in their second game against Japan but failed to hold onto their lead on both occasions. This will be of some concern heading into this game and Senegal must find a way to keep things tighter in defensive situations.
Colombia’s World Cup campaign started in dramatic fashion as they conceded a penalty and went down to ten men inside 5 minutes against Japan. Despite battling back to level things up before half-time, Colombia did not have the energy to keep it up in the second half and Japan got the goal to seal the win.
However, Colombia responded in the perfect fashion as they delivered a tremendous performance in their second match against Poland to take maximum points. Colombia were much the better team and played some excellent attacking football to score 3 good goals.
If Colombia can stage a repeat of that performance in this match, they will believe they have what it takes to defeat Senegal and progress to the Round of 16.
Looking ahead to the team news and Senegal have no injury or suspension concerns. Aliou Cisse will not want to make too many changes to his team and may opt to go with the same starting XI from the match against Japan.
Colombia will be without injured midfielder Abel Aguilar, who was taken off in the win over Poland. Carlos Sanchez returns from suspension and may go straight back into the team but Mateus Uribe will be hoping to get the nod.
This should be a good game to watch and both teams will be aiming to get the win they need to progress. Colombia produced the performance of the group in defeating Poland last time out and appear to have the most quality going forward. The Colombians should come out on top if they play the same way and book their place in the Round of 16.
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