The Colombia vs Senegal pre-World Cup friendly will be played at the Nuevo Gasómetro stadium in Buenos Aires on Saturday, May 31, 2014 (1:45 PM Pacific). Colombia will play an important match in a game which will allow to decide the final 23-player roster for the FIFA Brazil 2014 World Cup less than two weeks from no.
Los Cafeteros are expecting the recovery of their most important player, the Monaco striker Radamel Falcao García, who got a very important knee injury suffered on January 22. He’s currently recovering and he definitely won’t play against Senegal. Moreover, his presence in the World Cup is uncertain.
When the manager José Néstor Pékerman was asked about the 23 players that will go to the World Cup, he said: “I’ll wait until the last day, the last hour, the last minute, to give the definitive list.”
Another player that underwent a long-term injury is the Napoli right-back Camilo Zuñiga. He was out of the pitch for more than six months, but now he’s recovered and he wants to play against Senegal and Jordan (the last friendly before the World Cup, on June 6 in Buenos Aires) in order to gain some minutes on the field.
Finally, there is a third Colombian player who suffered a knee injury: the Fluminense midfielder Edwin Valencia. He won’t go to the World Cup, as Pékerman pointed out in press conference: “Valencia can’t reach the World Cup. It’s a significant loss, he’s a player that helped the team a lot, and although we knew that he wasn’t in a good physical condition, we tried to wait for him, but the World Cup comes too soon in order to count with him.”
Colombia had a great performance in the CONMEBOL qualification, finishing in the second place, only two points behind Argentina. In the World Cup Group C they will face Greece (June 14 in Belo Horizonte), Ivory Coast (June 19 in Brasilia) and Japan (June 24 in Cuiabá).
On the other hand, Senegal didn’t qualify to the World Cup. They finished in the first position of their group in the CAF qualification, with 3 victories and 3 draws, but they lost in the final round against Ivory Coast.
Senegal has only played one World Cup in all history, in 2002. In that tournament, they reached the quarterfinals after finishing in the second place of a difficult group that they shared with Denmark, Uruguay and France. In the round of 16 they defeated Sweden 2-1 in overtime, but in quarter-finals they lost 1-0 against Turkey, in overtime too.
The main players of Les Lions de la Téranga will not play against Colombia, as strikers Demba Ba (Chelsea) and Moussa Sow (Fenerbahçe) did not travel to Buenos Aires.
This will be the second match between Colombia and Senegal in the last years, since they faced each other in a friendly match in 2011 in Medellín, when Colombia was training ahead the America Cup. In that game, the South Americans won by 2-0.
Colombia vs Senegal Prediction
This Saturday, Colombia will not have trouble to defeat a weaker side like Senegal. Colombia is a great team with extraordinary talent in all lines of the field. As they demonstrated in the qualification, Colombia is a dangerous team, and although they do not have their star Falcao, they can hurt a team like Senegal. In addition, the most important strikers in the African team will not play, which will leave Senegal without any goals. The Colombia vs Senegal international friendly will end in a 3-0 win for the ‘Cafeteros’.
Colombia vs Senegal TV Schedule
The Colombia vs Senegal match will be televised on beIN Sports at 1:45 PM Pacific.
Colombia vs Senegal Highlights
The Colombia vs Senegal video highlights will be uploaded soon after the end of the game.
