The second round of matches in the CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualifiers will get underway this week, and Chile will prepare to take on Colombia at Estadio Monumental David Arellano on Wednesday morning.

After losing their first match of qualifying, the hosts are currently in eighth place in the early stages of the competition, while their opponents made a winning start over the weekend and are currently fourth.

Match preview

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Chile come into this match following a 3-1 loss to Uruguay, which brought an end to a five-match unbeaten steak that included three wins and two draws, dating back to November last year.

While they managed 49% of possession at Estadio Centenario, they were outplayed by Marcelo Bielsa's side, with Nicolas de la Cruz and Federico Valverde giving their side a three-goal lead before Arturo Vidal scored a consolation 15 minutes from full time.

Eduardo Berizzo's side finished seventh in qualifying between 2020 and 2022, but with the upcoming World Cup amended to include more teams, Chile will feel that they are in with a real chance with six teams from South America now allowed to qualify and the seventh side falling into a playoff round.

Historically, matches between these sides have been very even, with four of the last five ending level after 90 minutes, although the hosts will know they need to go all-out for the victory this time, or they could find themselves slipping off the pace with a few difficult matches still to come.

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Meanwhile, Colombia got their qualifiers off to a positive start, as they overcame Venezuela 1-0 over the weekend, with Rafael Borre scoring the only goal of the match one minute after the break.

However, while they did get the points in the match, Nestor Lorenzo may arguably feel that his side should have done better as they were vastly superior to their opponents but only managed a single goal from 13 attempts.

Nevertheless, with that result, they are now on a five-match winning streak in all competitions and unbeaten in their last 12, last losing to Argentina in the last edition of these qualifiers back in February last year.

While Colombia are known for free-flowing attacking football, their biggest strength of late has been at the other end of the pitch, where they have not conceded in their last three matches and have shut out their opponents in five of their last seven.

Like their opposition here, Los Cafeteros missed out on a World Cup qualification spot in the last tournament, though they did finish four points ahead of Chile and won the last encounter 3-1, albeit that it was back in Barranquilla.

Team News

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Thirty-six-year-old Vidal scored the only goal for Chile in the last match, and we could see the veteran start this one in place of Charles Aranguiz, who he replaced in the last match.

Dario Osorio made a bright cameo off the bench in the last 10 minutes of the match, and he will hope that he can make the starting 11 this time, possibly in place of Alexander Aravena or Marcelino Nunez who were both withdrawn against Uruguay.

Fluminense's Jhon Arias had an eye-catching match against Venezuela, setting up Borre for the only goal of the match, and he will likely continue in the engine room alongside Jefferson Lerma.

Yerry Mina and Jhon Lucumi were solid in the centre of defence and should resume their partnership here, while James Rodriguez could come in for Mateus Uribe in an attacking midfield role.

Chile possible starting lineup:
Cortes; Mehssatou, Medel, Marzipan, Suazo; Osorio, Vidal, Pulgar, Brereton; Nunez, Valdes

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

We say: Chile 1-1 Colombia

While Chile were beaten in their opening match, there were several positives they would have taken against a very good-looking Uruguay team.

The hosts would have had a few days to assess where they went wrong, and we expect them to put on a better performance this time around at home by holding the Colombians to a draw for their first point of the competition.

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

Written by
Devesh Jaganath

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