Colombia and Uruguay resume their World Cup Qualifying campaigns in search of a second victory over a rival that may prove very important in taking steps to Russia 2018.
Uruguay will host the Colombians after securing a comfortable 2-0 victory over Bolivia on Thursday, but will have to take the field without the services of their superstar strikers Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez, who continue to serve suspensions, and Cristian Rodriguez, who suffered an injury against the Bolivians.
Uruguay benefited from goals from defenders Diego Godin and Martin Caceres against Bolivia but will be hoping to restore their attacking players' cutting edge against a Colombian side who claimed victory in the previous fixture that these teams played at the 2014 World Cup.
For the Colombians attacking players and goals are rarely a problem and despite the lack of quality in Los Cafeteros' play during the Copa America, with attackers like Carlos Bacca, Jackson Martinez, Teo Gutierrez and even Radamel Falcao, Colombia will always have an edge going forward.
Colombian full-back Santiago Arias, speaking ahead of the game is confident that his team will not be taking anything for granted against Uruguay and warns his teammates against complacency.
Arias said: "I don't know if I'm more relaxed [due to the absences]. Everybody in the team has a reason for being there and they'll try to take me on or anybody that gets in their way."
"We know it's going to be tough, Uruguay is an amazing and historical team, but we'll try to control the ball and hurt them - especially on the passing game.
"We'll try to avoid the physical game, we know they'll fight and that it's their style of playing, but if that's the way the game begins we'd have to play it that way."
Striker Teo Gutierrez, who scored the first of Colombia's two goals against Peru and who is likely to start in Montevideo, has been reinforcing the words of Arias and is determined to leave Uruguay with a victory.
Teo said: "We will play our game and make them adapt to our style of playing, afterwards, we'll see what happens in the match but we're ready for any strategy they pose and we know Colombia has great players."
"The strongest, both physically and mentally, will make the difference in the championship. We must be prepared and know that we've got quality players, with great character, and we'll do our job."
Colombia and Uruguay will consider themselves rivals to finish in the automatic World Cup Qualifying spaces. To avoid finishing fifth in the qualifying table and embarking in a play-off match to qualify, Colombia and Uruguay will both be looking for the victory that could prove decisive in sealing a position in the top four places.
The match in Montevideo will be for three points, further to the points, however, could be the psychological advantage that the winning side could hold ahead of next month's and next year's matches.
When: Tuesday, October 13th
Where: Estadio, Centenario, Montevideo
Kick Off: 1900 ET
TV Schedule: BeIN Sports
Live Stream: BeIN Sports Connect
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