Colombia and Argentina square off in Copa America semi-final action on Wednesday, as both sides aim to book their place in Sunday's final.
Argentina confirmed their spot in the final four by beating Ecuador 3-0 in the quarter-finals, while their opponents narrowly got past Uruguay as they won on a penalty shootout.
Match preview
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Despite being heavily fancied coming into the tournament, Colombia had a somewhat underwhelming group campaign, although they always looked set to qualify thanks to their opening 1-0 win over Ecuador, as Edwin Cardona netted the only goal of the game on the stroke of half time.
A disappointing goalless draw with Venezuela then followed before they suffered 2-1 defeats at the hands of Peru and Brazil to drop to third spot by the end of the group campaign, seeing them face a tough clash against Uruguay in the quarter-finals as a result.
However, Reinaldo Rueda's men stepped up in that clash, holding a strong outfit to a goalless draw, with the tie going to a penalty shootout as a result.
Duvan Zapata and Davinson Sanchez converted Colombia's first two penalties, while David Ospina saved Jose Gimenez's effort to give La Tricolor the advantage.
Yerry Mina and Miguel Borja then slotted their penalties away, and Ospina produced his second save to deny Matias Vina, seeing Rueda's men win the shootout and progress to the final four as a result.
They will now look to take another big scalp when they clash with a dangerous Argentina outfit on Wednesday.
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After drawing their opening group game 1-1 with Chile, Lionel Scaloni's men won their three remaining matches to top the group.
That started with a crucial 1-0 win over fellow group favourites Uruguay, as Guido Rodriguez netted the only goal of the game inside the first 15 minutes.
An early Alejandro Gomez goal then fired them to a 1-0 win over Paraguay before he again got on the scoresheet alongside a Lionel Messi brace and a Lautaro Martinez goal in a dominant 4-1 win over Bolivia.
That saw them finish at the top of the group, booking a favourable quarter-final clash with Ecuador, and Scaloni's men cruised through as Rodrigo De Paul put them ahead before late goals from Messi and Martinez sealed a 3-0 win.
La Albiceleste now head into the semi-finals with high expectations to progress to the final, as they aim to lift the Copa America trophy for the 15th time in the nation's history, and the first time since 1993.
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Team News
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The struggles in the Colombia front line continued on in the quarter-final, as they again failed to find the net despite plenty of depth in attack.
They started with Atalanta duo Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata, but Miguel Borja could come in after another disappointing performance from Muriel.
Davinson Sanchez and Yerry Mina should continue their established pairing at the heart of the back four, shielding experienced goalkeeper David Ospina who has arguably been the nation's standout player at the tournament.
Argentina will be led by talismanic forward Lionel Messi, who has hit four goals and four assists in five Copa America appearances this year amidst the expiration of his Barcelona contract.
They boast an abundance of attacking options, with Lautaro Martinez, Nicolas Gonzalez, Angel Di Maria, and Angel Correa all battling for spots in the front line.
Meanwhile, new Barcelona forward Sergio Aguero will also hope to lead the line, having started the final two group games after moving to Catalonia from Manchester City in the summer.
Experienced centre-back Nicolas Otamendi will continue to lead the back line, while German Pezzella should keep his place alongside the Benfica man after an impressive showing in the 3-0 win over Ecuador.
Colombia possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Munoz, Mina, Sanchez, Tesillo; Cuadrado, Barrios, Cuellar, Diaz; Zapata, Borja
Argentina possible starting lineup:
E Martinez; Molina, Pezzella, Otamendi, Acuna; Paredes, De Paul, Lo Celso; Messi, Aguero, L Martinez
We say: Colombia 0-2 Argentina
In an intriguing clash, we see La Albiceleste booking their place in the final with another fairly dominant win on Wednesday.
Colombia have struggled to find the net so far, while Argentina boast an impressive collection of talent to potentially punish La Tricolor if they are given the opportunities, especially with Messi playing at the peak of his powers.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Argentina win with a probability of 39.8%. A win for Colombia had a probability of 34.74% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for an Argentina win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.09%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.64%) and 2-0 (6.52%). The likeliest Colombia win was 0-1 (8.39%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.03%).
