Pre-match: 2026 WCQ R-4: Colombia vs Ecuador (10/17/23, Tuesday - 7:30 PM EST)

Paraguay suck and have sucked for many years so not that strange

Brazil, will probably be a loss. If things go well we'll get a draw but that's it

 

We have beaten Paraguay in Paraguay when they were good too.

Brasil is in crises mode so if we lose to them it will be a shame. This is our moment to finally do something against them.

 

Chile got crushed by Venezuela. Looks like they're on their way to becoming the new Paraguay at this rate

 

The issue is James has no one to combine with other then Arias, if Arias and James can't play one twos and James isn't close to Arias to release him then there wouldn't be the congestion to switch to the right and punish them. The hypothetical switch of play really takes place because of overloading the one side which doesn't happen without James and Arias really. The answer isn't necessarily to isolate Arias more on the right rather just have a striker who can move wide to the right and you get the best of both worlds.

All of our good play came from Arias making good runs from midfield and James and Arias intelligent movement and play off each other, allowing both players to thrive because of that high level of play and that happens because they are close to each other, so for me it really doesn't make sense to break that up. We could play Sini instead of Borre, we could call Duvan and Cucho and play them instead of Borre, we could switch Diaz to the right and Sini on the left and play James as a false 9 and let Sini and Diaz sit wide and create width and Arias and James play free through the middle. For me we need to do everything to keep the Arias and James link up and fit around them, we have been bad at midfield control for almost 8 years and that has been our biggest weakness and we've fixed it over the last 2 games with this combo, we absolutely need to find other solutions which imo are staring us in the face.

The issues is James and Arias have been uber successful and looked amazing the last two games, Arias doesn't have that level of intelligent player at his club and its clear that James is still an elite talent on the ball and reading the game, having overloads to switch out of created a bunch of chances for us against Uruguay and we just need another player wide right who can punish that space, but the hardest thing to recreate and what we haven't been able to do for 8 years is create the runs and passing out of midfield with someone beside James.

In both games James and Arias combined on the right and the left, and when we did it on the right we got a bunch of goal scoring chances through Diaz, keep that going, but add in someone on the right last night it should have been Sini probably imo.

 

Thing is we cannot rely on James. As much as we like him and as well as he has played these last two matches, he is just not dependable.
He can be injured or just lazy and out of favor with his coach at any time in the next few weeks.
So hopefully we can adjust and find ways to play as well with Cuadrado or Carrascal or JuanFer or any other creative type.

 

I cringed at Mosquera every time he touched the ball. We need a 3rd RB in case Arias or Munoz is injured. Cuadrado can be the solution but at his age he is also injury prone.

Then there's the Uribe problem, personally I think Rios played a good game for the amount of minutes he played and Castano too. However Uribe's decision making is not good, I watch this man in slow motion dribble in the middle of the field against 3 Ecuadorian midfielders. SWITCH THE BALL OF PLAY!

Lastly,

Borre, his ball contribution sucks, and it's not his ability but the lack of service to feed him plays. Although he's guilty on not making diagonal runs or holding the ball well so he's not 100% excusible. The striker spot is open for anyone and maybe we need to consider Cucho or another in form striker.

 

Maybe the other Mosquera can play RB but Lorenzo showed no faith in him.
Unfortunately there's not too many guys who can play at this level for us at RB or LB so we are probably going to see weird experiments with CBs which is a deeper position.



Guys like Rios, Castano and even Puerta will eventually phase out Uribe but it may take a while.
I also hope a guy like Atuesta gets healthy but he has been out for a while and was not playing at Palmeiras when healthy.


Santos Borre is Santos Borre. Lorenzo and Perea love the guy and he is our Striker if he is healthy.
As much as I want to see other guys get chances I am just conceding the fact it is a worthless exercise of arguments. Santos Borre is the man for the foreseeable future unless he gets injured or suspend.

 

I really wouldn't worry about RB it was a freak accident that our 4 first choice RB's were injured, I doubt that's gonna be an issue going forward. Mosquera in a back 3 was fine, he wasn't playing RB in possession so it was all good. The only position I really want to see Cuadrado on the field is as a RWB, yesterdays formation would have been perfect for him since its the first time we played a quasi back 3, we can easily do that going forward with Munoz or Medina who can both be in a back 3 when we defend and move central as an inverted fullback to allow Arias to make runs and Cuadrado to sit wide right when we attack.

 

colombians are always injured, not that strange. Im more surprised this sort of thing hasn't happened more frequently.

 

Uribe is in his final days, im not sure he'll be around for the next WC. I give him 2 more years at most

Atuesta has Yerry Mina's brittle bones made of water so don't count on him for anything other than maybe ending up back at his precious MLS once the brazilians finally get sick of him

 

something I was thinking recently regarding the injuries, i've been seeing other people elsewhere talk about the schedule and the amount of games these guys have to play. Many european teams are struggling hard with injuries too, Chelsea lost loads of players already and we're only a few weeks into the season.

also, if anyone knows where I can catch rerun of the either one of the two games lmk. The website I use for games does not care for south american football unless its argie or brazil, bunch of basic bitches

 

Wasn’t super impressed with Rios was hoping he was the answer for Uribe

tho Castano like him way more than Barrios or Lerma.

liked Arias as an 8 as well defensively was solid and impossible to take the ball from him

since Uribe is useless maybe Arias there isn’t that bad. If Sinisteria or a better option at RW existed

playing Arias, James and Borre out of position was just odd.

Yaser/Carrascal should have been given minutes in these last 2 games

I’m glad Montero did well at goal. Tho the team is just kind of slow. He kept trying to restart plays or do long passes like he does at Millos.

for having half the starting team injured and us losing 6-1 last time. We did pretty well. Glad Borre didn’t take the pk but wtf Lucho!! Save some of the goals at Liverpool for Colombia

redeem yourself with a win against Brazil at home

 

Pretty much agreed with everything but I think I’m in the minority here that would have given the pen to Borre. James has been struggling hard as of late from the penalty spot and Lucho has a lot of weight on his shoulders. For whatever reason borre would have given me the most confidence.

 

I think csrascal and asprilla shouldve came to give us fresh legs and speed up front for diaz to link with at least in the last 25 min of the game .

Edit: also sini!! But who would he have replaced is the question .

 

Arias is out vs Brazil so Sini will need to take the reins. But now I fear that Lorenzo wil shoehorn James in to his tactics no matter the situation. How does Carrascal go from being a central figure with Lorenzo to just heating bench? That's one insane haul from Russia to get to Colombia and back. Same with Yaser, Duran and Casierra. I mean what's the point of just inisisting on Borre when you have alternatives? Empatitis mode is in full effect.

 

Am I the only one not that crazy about Carrascal?

 

No one is building a team around Carrascal. But these 2 matches showed Lorenzo will shift his players to fit James. Carrascal is not the main attraction on any starting 11 but he offers a lot of dynamic play, 1 v 1 and decent IQ with the ball. He has lots of high and lows during a game but with fast wingers and a proper striker he can add to that attack as much any other AMF for Colombia.

But history tends to repeat itself and I would be shocked to see James stay fit for just 1 season playing club + NT. Hope he does.

 

He still has not given up a goal in any of his starts which is pretty amazing.
And the only goal he gave up was not his fault coming in off the bench cold to try and stop a penalty.
He is not bad at all. Just needs to go to a better league in my opinion to get better.

 

You think that Carrascal could add as much as James did in the last two games for Colombia? I'm sorry this is just not reality, he doesn't have anywhere near that talent James does when fit. Carrascal is gonna get his chance no doubt when James isn't fit, but when James is fit it's very clear that at this point he's still our most important player for the team to run.

 

haha, you're kidding, the most important player....

 

Absolutely, no one else has been able to generate the type of midfield control and chance creation for us. He made all of our attackers better, he was able to exploit space and get Diaz the ball to make him better which has been a big problem for us. You take James out of the team and we simply do not run like that and we've seen it for a few years now, James when he is fit and playing we are a completely different side and the difference attacking from the first 2 games vs the two more difficult games we just played is night and day really.

 

@villus, even if you were right, then we are doomed to depend on a player that is 32 and chronic injuries....let alone his attitude. Although he seems a bit more humble by James standards.
Same reason why even if Mina came back and played an MVP match, you would be a fool to rely on him for the long trek.

Secondly, we don't know what Carrascal would have done in Baranquilla or Quito so that's a moot point. Althought I find it ironic that a guy from Cartagena would get no play in Baranquilla.

We can NOT depend on James. 2 WCQ cycles = 8 years that should have shown you enough evidence to see that's a fool's errand. And just to be clear. This is not James 2014. He had a great game v Uruguay but it's also because we expected ZERO from the guy and he delivered a solid performance. Low expectations.