Four ago it was a stunning tournament for Colombia and James Rodriguez in particular.<\/p>\n
The South Americans stormed to the quarterfinals after beating Uruguay in the round of 16, but the host proved to be too much for them and they exited at the last 8.<\/p>\n
James Rodriguez scored a stunning goal against Uruguay after another beauty against Japan, he earned a move to Real Madrid that summer and their fans would be hoping he performs that special in this year’s edition too.<\/p>\n
The Colombians played just a single warm-up game before this competition, although they won, their lack of competitive fixtures may prove decisive.<\/p>\n
They have not lost any of their last four games leading up to this match.<\/p>\n
The Japanese have been busy preparing for this competition and even played their final warm-up game on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
That game ended in a win for them against Paraguay, however, prior to that they had lost two on the bounce against Switzerland and Ghana.<\/p>\n
The Asians have four losses from their last six games, and they have only won against Australia among all the teams to have qualified for the World Cup, losing to Brazil, Belgium, South Korea, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Four ago it was a stunning tournament for Colombia and James Rodriguez in particular. The South Americans stormed to the quarterfinals after beating Uruguay in the round of 16, but the host proved to be too much for them and they exited at the last 8. James Rodriguez scored a stunning goal against Uruguay after another beauty against Japan, he earned a move to Real Madrid that summer and their fans would be hoping he performs that special in this year’s edition too. The Colombians played just a single warm-up game before this competition, although they won, their lack of competitive fixtures may prove decisive. They have not lost any of their last four games leading up to this match. The Japanese have been busy preparing for this competition and even played their final warm-up game on Tuesday. That game ended in a win for them against Paraguay, however, prior to that they had lost two on the bounce against Switzerland and Ghana. The Asians have four losses from their last six games, and they have only won against Australia among all the teams to have qualified for the World Cup, losing to Brazil, Belgium, South Korea, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-match-preview"],"yoast_head":"\n