Colombia national team manager Eduardo Lara has selected 29 players for
upcoming friendly matches with El Salvador and Venezuela.
Lara has applied a rather unusual system to his selection, as the coach called up mostly Colombia-based players for the match with El Salvador, while foreign-based players are added for the game against Venezuela.
The squad that faces El Salvador in Houston on August 7 includes 16 players that represent Colombian club teams. The only exception is Seattle Sounders forward Freddy Montero.
For the match against Venezuela, which is to be played in New York five days later, Lara has added some of Colombia’s best known players such as Luis Amaranto Perea, Ivan Ramiro Cordoba, Mario Alberto Yepes, Radamel Falcao and Hugo Rodallega.
The decision to select mostly home-based players for the first friendly should allow Lara to find out which footballers are worth selecting in future games. The Colombian national team may need reconstruction after several disappointing results in recent games.
Colombia are struggling to earn a spot at next year’s soccer World Cup, currently being located in seventh place in the South American qualifying group. The top four qualifies, while the fifth-placed team faces an intercontinental play-off.