Even though Luis Suarez’s alleged bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini is taking all the headlines right now, that might not be Uruguay’s biggest problem going into their knockout game against Colombia on Saturday at the World Cup. The truth is, Uruguay hasn’t looked very good and they are facing a young and hungry team that are playing like they have nothing to lose.
World Cup Odds: Colombia +110, Uruguay +275, Draw +235
Odds To Win World Cup: Uruguay +2550, Colombia +1615
Why Colombia Can Win
James has been playing brilliantly in the absence of Falcao, Colombia’s star striker who couldn’t recover from a knee injury in time for the tournament. Ironically, he’s James’ teammate at Monaco. James has three goals and two assists so far at the World Cup and he took over Colombia’s 4-1 win over Japan to make sure they won Group C and he might be the player of the tournament so far. People expected him to have a good World Cup, but no one expected this and now James is probably going to be coveted by the bigger clubs in Europe, but he has to focus on the World Cup right now.
Colombia has made it to the round of 16 twice in five trips to the World Cup, and the quarterfinals are within their reach. They have to keep their nerves at bay on Saturday.
Why Uruguay Can Win
Uruguay is a veteran team that won’t panic and even though they haven’t played well at all at the World Cup, they progressed and that is a start. The incident with Suarez can’t help their cause as he scored two goals against England, but England really isn’t that good and Suarez labored through much of their 1-0 win over Italy. The onus is on Edinson Cavani to step up and take over the lead role from Suarez, who might miss the rest of the World Cup after FIFA finishes their investigation over what happened, and it’s good that they do have another option if he gets the boot.
That being said, Uruguay has looked a shadow of the team that finished fourth at the World Cup in 2010 and were probably lucky to end up in a group with a terrible England team and an Italian side that, like Uruguay, got really old really fast. Do they have the legs to keep up with Colombia? That remains to be seen.
Outlook
Uruguay has won 18 and drawn nine of their 38 meetings with Colombia, who still don’t feel like they’re getting much respect, even though they are favored for this game. The media frenzy surrounding Suarez has to be a hindrance to Uruguay’s preparations, but they have to figure out a way to slow down James. However, players like Jackson Martinez and Juan Cuadrado are also playing well and they can take some of the pressure off James if Uruguay pays too much attention to him. Colombia gets past Uruguay and makes to the quarterfinals.
Pick: Colombia
