#3 The return of James Rodriguez
Colombia's James Rodriguez has become somewhat of a forgotten name in world football. As injuries continued to wreak havoc on his time on the field, the former Real Madrid ace recently moved to Qatari side Al Rayyan from Everton.
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He's now set to make his first appearance for Los Cafeteros in almost a year. The playmaker has been in international exile since scoring in Colombia's 6-1 drubbing against Ecuador last November.
Despite playing only thrice in the 2021-22 season, Rodriguez's return is a massive boost for Colombia. They'll look up to him to provide some much-needed attacking spark.
#2 Falcao injury exacerbates Colombia's attacking woes
Last month, Colombia failed to score in any of their three qualifying games, drawing 0-0 against Uruguay, Brazil and Ecuador in succession. In the three games, they mustered 32 shots in total, of which only 11 were on target. That indicates a severe lack of cutting edge in the final third.
To exacerbate matters, in-form striker Radamel Falcao has been ruled out with an injury, leaving Colombia with a massive void to fill in attack.
Duvan Zapata, Luis Muriel and Luis Diaz are all incredibly talented. But their record for the Cafeteros is poor - in 103 caps combined - the triumvirate has accrued only 19 goals together.
Rodriguez will create chances, but can anyone finish them?
#1 Brazil will qualify with a win
Should the Canaries beat Colombia again on Friday, it'll be a done deal for them. They'll secure direct qualification. Having cruised through the campaign with a near-perfect record, Tite's side have been in a league of their own.
However, it's worth mentioning that the only time they failed to win was against Colombia. They held Brazil in a goalless but tense game last month.
Anything but a win would have no impact on their qualifying hopes. But they'd hope to become the first side in the CONMEBOL zone to book their tickets for next year's showpiece event in Qatar.
