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Thursday June 19th - 10:00AM | ||
| vs | IVORY COAST | ||
| FIFA RANKING 5 | FIFA RANKING 21 | ||
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| HOW THEY QUALIFIED |
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| COLOMBIA Colombia began the South American qualifiers well enough, collecting four points from their first two games before defeat at home to Argentina in their third outing spelled the end of Leonel Alvarez’s reign as coach. The arrival of Jose Nestor Pekerman as his replacement represented a turning point for Los Cafeteros in their journey to Brazil 2014, with the Argentinian coach overseeing a run of five wins in their next six games, a sequence that put them firmly on course for the finals. Colombia’s convincing home form at their Barranquilla citadel was central to their successful campaign, as was the balance between attack and defence and their cutting edge up front. No side in the group let in fewer goals than their 13 and only two of their continental rivals scored more than their 27. After clinching a trip to their first world finals since France 1998 on the penultimate matchday, the Colombians eventually took second place, their highest ever finish since the introduction of the current qualifying system. IVORY COAST Côte d’Ivoire breezed through their opening qualifying group with four wins from their six matches. They scored 15 goals to five conceded, and their only dropped points came from two draws against their biggest rivals Morocco. Their home-and-away play-off was much trickier however as a resurgent Senegal stood in their way. For the final quarter of an hour of the second leg, the Senegalese were one goal away from knocking out the Elephants on away goals at 3-2 aggregate, but Salomon Kalou's late goal settled the tie and sent the Ivorians into their third consecutive World Cup finals. |
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RECENT RESULTS |
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| COLOMBIA | IVORY COAST | ||
| 15/10/13 - PARAGUAY 1-2 COLOMBIA 11/10/13 - COLOMBIA 3-3 CHILE 10/09/13 - URUGUAY 2-0 COLOMBIA |
16/11/13 - SENEGAL 1-1 IVORY COAST 12/10/13 - IVORY COAST 3-1 SENEGAL 07/09/13 - IVORY COAST 1-1 MOROCCO |
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| PLAYERS TO WATCH | |||
| COLUMBIA With his sparkling form at Monaco, the prolific Falcao is now generally regarded as Colombia’s main attacking threat. The 25-year-old predator came to prominence at River Plate, first in the youth team and then with the senior side, before moving to Europe in 2009 where he won two Leagues, two Cups, three Super Cups and the UEFA Europa League with Porto, and then added another UEFA Europa League and European Super Cup with Atletico Madrid. As well as Falcao, the Colombians can also count on the experience of defensive duo Mario Yepes and Luis Perea at the back, as well as the creativity of attacking midfielder James Rodriguez and the goalscoring instinct of Teo Gutierrez, a lethal partner for Falcao up front. |
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| IVORY COAST Côte d’Ivoire boast some of the greatest individual talents in Africa. Forwards Drogba and Salomon Kalou are a formidable front pair, while midfield duo Didier Zokora and Yaya Toure perform key ball-winning duties in the middle of the park. Explosive winger Gervinho supplies service from both flanks, with Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure providing a wealth of experience at the back. |
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