Colombia vs Brazil

Colombia and Brazil go head-to-head at the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in a mouth-watering South America World Cup qualifying showdown.

Despite going unbeaten in their four World Cup qualifying fixtures in the post-Copa America 2021 period (W1, D3), the Colombians have seemingly struggled to build on their third-place finish at the continental tournament back in July. However, a hat-trick of uneventful draws, coupled with a 3-1 home thrashing of Chile, has helped ‘Los Cafeteros’ retain the inter-confederation play-off spot and remain within a two-point distance from the last automatic qualification place. Having won just one of their last 20 H2H meetings with Brazil (D7, L12) over the past three decades, Colombia will be desperate to turn the script this time around. But they have drawn a blank in two of their four World Cup qualifying H2Hs as hosts in the 21st century, scoring precisely once per game in the other two (D3, L1).

Meanwhile, Brazil pulled off a stunning second-half comeback to beat Venezuela 3-1 away from home last time out and maintain their 100% record in the ongoing World Cup qualifying campaign (W9). Curiously, their first come-from-behind triumph since they last took on Colombia has kept Brazil’s dream of going unbeaten throughout the entire 18-game World Cup qualifying cycle alive. While seven of their seven 2022 World Cup qualifying victories have come ‘to nil,’ 77.78% of them have seen the ‘Selecao’ prevail by a comfortable 2+ goal margin. As the only nation to have featured in every World Cup finals since the inaugural tournament in 1930, the Brazilians are overwhelming favorites to post their first World Cup qualifying win on Colombian soil since 2003. Additionally, head coach Tite will enjoy the privilege of having Neymar back to the fold after suspension.