Colombia mark their return to the sport’s top table with an intriguing Group K opener against debutants Uzbekistan in Mexico City.
Group K
Thursday, 18 June | Mexico City Stadium
Kick-off time
10:00 (GMT+8)
The match
Quarter-finalists at Brazil 2014, Colombia failed to qualify for the previous World Cup but returned to the sport’s grandest stage in style. Punching their North American ticket with a match to spare, the nation finished above the likes of Brazil and Uruguay in the CONMEBOL preliminaries. First up is the challenge of debutants Uzbekistan who are the first Central Asian nation to appear at the global showpiece. With Fabio Cannavaro at the helm, the White Wolves have World Cup-winning pedigree as well as a side full of emerging talents eager to impress. They also enter full of confidence, having lost just once in a marathon 16-match journey through the Asian qualifiers.
Possible Uzbekistan starting XI
Yusupov; Abdullaev, Ashurmatov, Khusanov; Sayfiev, Shukurov, Khamrobekov, Nasrullaev; Fayzullaev, Urunov; Shomurodov
Possible Colombia starting XI
Vargas; Munoz, Davinson Sanchez, Lucumi, Mojica; Lerma, Rios; Luis Diaz, Arias, James Rodriguez; Luis Suarez
Mexico City Stadium
A true coliseum of world football and the first to host a third FIFA World Cup, Mexico City Stadium – which welcomed the likes of Pele and Diego Maradona across two pulsating World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986 – will once again take centre stage.
Mexico City Stadium was also the venue for the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ in 2011, when a capacity crowd of 98,943 set the record for the number of supporters at any game in the history of the prestigious youth tournament.