Colombia and Iraq will meet in an international friendly for the first time Friday at Mestalla Stadium, the home of La Liga side Valencia in Spain.

The Colombians enter this contest unbeaten in five successive internationals, coming back to defeat Japan 2-1 at the Kirin Challenge Cup in March, while the Lions of Mesopotamia were beaten 2-0 by Russia in their previous encounter.

Match preview

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It has been nearly a year since Nestor Lorenzo was appointed Colombia's new manager, and things are off to a positive start, as this team have yet to lose since he took charge.

A former assistant to Jose Pekerman, when this team competed at the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, Lorenzo gives these players a degree of familiarity as many members of that golden generation are still around with the national team today.

While there are numerous players we regularly see when the European club season is in full swing, we are likely to be introduced to some new Colombian faces for this international window as over half of the squad chosen (13/24) have fewer than 10 caps for Los Cafeteros, and five have yet to make an appearance.

In the early days of Lorenzo as coach, this group have been well organised and difficult to break down defensively, but lately they have also shown an ability to react well when faced with adversity, conceding the opening goal in their last two matches but coming away with a 2-2 draw versus South Korea and a narrow victory over Japan days later.

On the international stage, this team have not lost a game since falling 1-0 in their final 2022 World Cup qualifier to the eventual champions Argentina, while they have not been beaten by an Asian opponent since late March 2019 when the South Koreans earned a narrow 2-1 victory against them in Seoul.

Lorenzo has implemented numerous different formations to begin matches, most recently going with a 4-1-4-1 system, allowing for more fluidity and flexibility, though it has come with its drawbacks as many players have got in each other's way under that approach, as Colombia have conceded a goal within the opening 10 minutes in each of their previous two contests.

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Jesus Casas is ushering in a new era of football in Iraq, with a quick transitional approach from defence to attack and a more direct way of playing the game than what this program is used to.

A former assistant to Luis Enrique with the Spanish national team, Casas has been relatively successful with that transitional style, helping Iraq capture the Arabian Gulf Cup back in January, thanks to a 3-2 extra-time victory over Oman in the final, the first time they had lifted that trophy since 1988.

Friday will be the last opportunity for Casas and his staff to see his players in action with the senior side before they compete at the AFC Asian Cup next January in a group which features four-time winners Japan, along with Vietnam and Indonesia.

Their loss to Russia just over two months ago was the first time all year that Iraq had failed to score the opening goal in a match, having drawn first blood in victories over Kuwait (1-0), Saudi Arabia (2-0), Yemen (5-0) and Qatar (2-1) at the Gulf Cup before emerging victorious from that aforementioned final.

That defeat to the Russians was also the first time since November 2022 that the Iraqis had faced a side outside of their region, as they are winless and goalless against non-Asian teams since a 3-1 victory over Zambia in March 2022, while coming away with a 0-0 draw in Spain versus CONMEBOL side Ecuador later that same year.

Not since January 2021 had the Lions of Mesopotamia come back to win an encounter in which they were faced with a second-half deficit, scoring a pair of late goals to defeat Kuwait 2-1.

Team News

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Oscar Cortes, Mateo Cassierra, Andres Salazar, Yerson Mosquera and Kevin Mier are the only uncapped players chosen by Colombia for this match and the one to follow versus Germany, while Jhon Arias made just his fourth international appearance and Jorge Carrascal started as the lone striker, appearing for the fifth time with Los Cafeteros in their victory over Japan.

Juventus midfielder Juan Cuadrado can pick up his 114th career Colombian cap on Friday, which would put him 13 behind David Ospina for the most all time, Yerry Mina of Everton can reach 40 appearances, Liverpool's Luis Diaz is three away from attaining that same mark and Mateus Uribe can hit the half-century mark for caps within their next five games.

Jhon Duran and Rafael Santos Borre answered the third-minute strike by Kaoru Mitoma, allowing Colombia to emerge victorious against the Japanese as Camilo Vargas only faced three shots in his 13th start with the national team.

Only three Iraqi players selected for this window are still uncapped, Pashang Abdulla, Kevin Yakob and Andre Alsanati, while Manchester United midfielder Zidane Iqbal made just his third career appearance in the defeat versus Russia.

Ali Faez is three caps away from reaching 50 all-time for Iraq, Aymen Hussein, currently without a club, is their leading goalscorer chosen for this window (14), while goalkeeper Jalal Hassan is their most experienced with 71 appearances.

Ibrahim Bayesh got Iraq on the board in their Gulf Cup final versus Oman, with Amjad Attwan putting them ahead in extra time and Manaf Younis notching the winner moments before a potential penalty shootout.

Colombia possible starting lineup:
Vargas; Munoz, Sanchez, Lucumi, Machado; Carrascal, Cuadrado, Lerma; Arias, Borre, Diaz

Iraq possible starting lineup:
Hassan; Tariq, Nadhim, Younis; Bayesh, Attwan, Rashid, H. Ali; Iqbal; Hussein, M. Ali

We say: Colombia 2-0 Iraq

Iraq are a dangerous counter-attacking side who have shown they can create chances in transition, but we believe the experienced Colombian backline will be in the right place at the right time to thwart them at every turn.

Colombia have some quality in the attack themselves, and given how familiar they are with one another, we expect the South Americans to be a little bit sharper in possession and make their chances count.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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