Bolivia play host to Colombia on Thursday, as the South American World Cup Qualifying campaign continues after this summer's Copa America.

The hosts had a strong end to the last round of qualifying games, but failed to impress at the continental tournament, while their visitors fell just short of reaching the final.

Match preview

Bolivia had a particularly difficult start to the World Cup Qualifying campaign last year, as they began with a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Brazil before falling to narrow defeats against Argentina and Ecuador.

Cesar Farias's side bounced back in impressive fashion though, earning their first point with a 2-2 draw against Paraguay before they defeated Venezuela 3-1 and finished the round of games off with a commendable 1-1 draw against Chile to move up to eighth spot in the qualifying group.

However, La Verde failed to build on that momentum in the Copa America, as they crashed out of the group without collecting a point, conceding 10 goals in four games while only scoring two at the other end of the pitch.

Following that disappointment, Bolivia will look to bounce back and continue their rise up the qualifying group to push for their first World Cup appearance since the turn of the century.

They take on a Colombia side who are in a relatively strong position after six games, and will look to challenge the top two with another run of positive results.

Colombia kicked off the qualifying campaign with a 3-0 thrashing of Venezuela, before earning a creditable point in a 2-2 draw away against Chile.

Reinaldo Rueda's side were then handed two surprisingly heavy defeats, as they were beaten 3-0 by Uruguay and 6-1 by Ecuador, but they managed to quickly stop the rot with a dominant 3-0 win over Peru and a 2-2 draw with Argentina.

That saw them head into the Copa America with a degree of confidence, having taken fifth spot in the World Cup Qualifying table, and despite an underwhelming showing in the group stage, they qualified for the quarter-finals with four points from four games.

La Tricolor advanced to the final four with a penalty shootout victory over Uruguay after a goalless draw, but they would fall short to eventual winners Argentina in a shootout in the semi-final, after Luis Diaz had equalised to see the game finish 1-1 in normal time.

Davinson Sanchez, Yerry Mina and Edwin Cardona were all denied from the spot to see La Albiceleste advance at their expense, but Rueda's men now have the opportunity to continue their strong run of form in the lead up to next year's World Cup with the chance to leapfrog Argentina in the table if they can leave Bolivia with a victory.

Team News

Bolivia will be led by forward Marcelo Moreno, who tops the nation's all-time scoring charts with 25 international goals.

He is joined in an experienced front line by Juan Carlos Arce, who played an important role in their Copa America campaign.

Boliviar midfielder Leonel Justiniano is a crucial anchor in the middle for La Verde, and he will likely be joined by Ramiro Vaca, while Erwin Saavedra will offer additional attacking threat from the midfield.

Colombia will welcome Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Davinson Sanchez into the camp, after he was given permission to fly from England, but his regular partner Yerry Mina will miss out with a slight knock, having missed Everton's latest Premier League outing.

Rueda had to deal with problems in his misfiring attacking line at the Copa America, with heavy rotation between strikers, and record scorer Radamel Falcao has been recalled to the squad, potentially to fix that issue.

He will likely partner Luis Muriel, who got off the mark in the Italian top flight with a goal for Atalanta on the opening day, while Porto winger Luis Diaz offers plenty of attacking threat from the wing, having hit four goals at the Copa America, including a brace in the third-place playoff win over Peru.

Porto midfielder Mateus Uribe was forced to leave the squad early at the South American competition after picking up a serious injury in the group stage, but he has since returned to full fitness and will likely come back in to partner enforcer Wilmar Barrios.

Bolivia possible starting lineup:
Lampe; Bejarano, Quinteros, Jusino, Fernandez; Saavedra, Justiniano, Vaca, Chura; Arce, Moreno

Colombia possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Munoz, Mina, Medina, Tesillo; Cuadrado, Uribe, Barrios, Diaz; Falcao, Muriel

We say: Bolivia 0-2 Colombia

Colombia boast the far stronger of the two squads, and we see them continuing their impressive run of form in qualifying with a victory in Bolivia.

While their attack struggled at the Copa America, they boast enough talent to begin quickly firing, and they will expect to deal fairly comfortably with Bolivia's ageing front line at the other end of the pitch.

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