Colombia and Ivory Coast proved the specialists opinions to be the two favorites in their group, as they took victories in their first games and here we will see the battle of which will take the first spot and play with a less dangerous opponent in the last sixteen.
Colombia had no problems taking all the points against Greece, as the European side looks like one of the worst ones in the campaign and even without their star player Falcao and with Guarin (slight injury) and Martinez on the bench, they still managed to ease past their opponent and take a comfortable 3:0 victory. Pekerman have huge amount of talent in his squad and especially in attacking plan, where in the first game the River Plate striker Gutierrez had thanked him for being given a starting place, by scoring one of the goals and again proved to be in excellent shape this season.
He also have the Sevilla striker Bacca and the Porto goal machine Martinez on the bench, waiting for their moment, as also with James Rodriguez and Freddy Guarin behind them, this Colombia side really looks like one of the strongest ones in many years, despite that their star player Falcao is out.
Ivory Coast made a huge step toward making the last sixteen, after beating Japan in the opening game with 2:1 and exactly the Asian side was the one, which the specialists thought can cost some troubles for the two favorites. And in that match they proved that, taking an early lead against their African opponent, but the change at the start of the second half and the fact that Drogba came on the pitch changed a lot of things, as the Galatasaray striker, just with being on the pitch, provide a lot of spaces for his teammates up front and also he is such a big motivator and character, which lift his side to another level.
The comeback came after two crosses and goals with headers, but in the second half Ivory Coast also showed some really nice stuff in creating the attacks, as it was not surprised that Yaya Toure was named man of the match, having in mind that during the whole game the Manchester City midfielder was just tearing apart the Japan center and cost them so many problems, as well as he created a lot of chances.
The World Cup so far surprises everyone with the really open football the sides are showing and with the big amount of goals and I will follow this note once again, as both side proved to be the best two in this group and now it is up to this game to decide who deserves the first place more. Both of them have much more potential in the attacking area and therefore we should see an attacking approach from both Colombia and Ivory Coast in this game.
- Match Betting Prediction : Over 2.5 @ 2.05 in bet365
