Colombia out to surprise Argentina

Colombia, unbeaten in the Conmebol World Cup qualifying campaign, host Argentina in Barranquilla’s Estadio Metropolitano on Tuesday.

Argentina will look to make amends for their 1-1 draw against cellar dwellers Bolivia on Friday.

Alejandro Sabella’s men enjoyed a flying start to their qualifying campaign with a 4-1 win over Chile, but they have suffered a couple of setbacks since then, losing 1-0 at Venezuela before being by Bolivia.

That point was Bolivia’s first in three qualifiers, and left Argentina as one of four teams level on four points, three behind leaders Uruguay.

Playmaker Lionel Messi admits his side were left frustrated at dropping valuable home points and is hoping they can get back on track against Colombia.

“We are very angry with the draw because we cannot let the three points slip away when we play at home,” the Barcelona superstar told reporters.

“We must keep working hard and try to get a positive result against Colombia. What we want to do is to find our best form and do our job right. Winning is what matters.”

Defender Nicolas Burdisso added: “The situation is one of pessimism and a lack of confidence. We have to change it. We must not fear. It is up to us.”

Colombia will make at least one change with Aquivaldo Mosquera coming in for the suspended Luis Perea in defence.

Mosquera knows he has his work cut out to contain Argentina’s all-star attack, not least Real Madrid forward Gonzalo Higuain.

“Higuain is a great striker. We must be very careful with him because he is very difficult to stop in the box,” the America de Cali defender told Futbolred.com.

“Argentina have great, talented, experienced players but I hope they have a bad evening and we have a good one.”