France or Spain because of the quality of their squad and the consistency they have showed. Argentina does not have a lot of the key players from Qatar so i don't consider them favs even though they are the defending champs. I have even seen vids from Argentinians saying this.
Solid points. * Based on recent club form only, Montero seems to be the man but Vargas has been steady at the NT level. * Mojica has been solid for the most part this cycle but there seems to be a trend where we shit on this LB role - Ángulo has been a steady alternative and even Deiver was fine when called to play. I always liked Borja who plays a safe style. End of day, people (myself too at times) want someone like Pablo Armero and it just ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. And those who think Cabal is ready for an 8 game tournament in 30 days….i am not on that page at this time. he has yet to play one 90 minute game for Juve since his return from injury. At least Yerson has proved that he can play 90 minutes a week since returning from injury… * agree 100% about the bench - if his bench are guys like Portilla-Castano-Uribe-Hinestroza instead of Carbonero-Gomez-Deossa then we better stock up on advil…. *Duran - sigh…I don’t know what to say at this point. lots of what ifs out therewhich make these two friendlies very important and will show us what Nestor is thinking…
Montero seems to be doing pretty well and Ospina is showing signs that its time to retire. I thought he had a pretty poor performance vs Millos
I disagree about Argentina. They have a pretty solid starting 11, even without Messi, and they have great options of the bench. They are probably a little worse than in Qatar, but they are more balanced than most squads and with better subs.
i feel like this current argentina team is more disciplined and they actually play better without messi these days. Plus you have DePaul who i rate highly but he plays in the MLS now.... but on the flip side - look what happened to Spain in 2014 - they won the Euro 08; 10WC and Euro 12...not saying that history repeats itself, but Spain 08-13 is a similar trend as Argentina 21-current...
Montero has been great at Velez, he overtook the starting position and then had a couple MOTM performances, I think one against River Plate Ospina did what he's done in the past many times, he's great when he's on form but if not then he's prone to performances like the one in Sudamericana I still don't know who will end up being our starting GK
Messi is like 40 lol, I find it weird when people complain about people like Falcao, Messi or Suarez not performing when they are all nearly 40. Its a miracle they are even able to hang at this level at all. Most people would have retired long ago the Argentina team that won the world cup was not a well known squad either, many of those guys were on their way up but didn't cement themselves until after
btw anyone seen that they are remodeling El Campin? It looks incredible, makes me want to go for once. It was 100% in dire need of a remodeling, it looked absolutely tragic and this was back in like 2007/08
Its really cool, comes with extra stuff too like places to eat Its even nicer than Palmaseca which I thought was nice at the time too
Oh interesting. I assume it will take up more land than the current stadium The neighborhood its in is kinda crap and densely populated. My father's childhood home is in a sketchy neighborhood nearby
Actually about the same since they’re not building the track around the field. And the neighborhood is not the best but is not sketchy, at least not compared with what you see in other localidades.
¡Ya voté! En el "Tarjeton de la Selección Colombia' de @ELTIEMPO impreso de hoy, hice mi elección de los 26 jugadores de Colombia que creo deben estar en el equipo del Mundial. !Escoja los suyos! pic.twitter.com/WAlYAX0cVi— Gabriel Meluk (@MelukLeCuenta) March 8, 2026
Yeah this pool to choose from is suspect… My list: Vargas-Montero-Ospina Muñoz-Santi-Mojica-Ángulo Davinson-Lucumi-Mosquera-Mina Rios-Deossa-Lerma-Portilla Arias-Yaser-Carbonero-Gomez James-Lucho-Quintero Suarez-Cucho-Borre-Cordoba
Bold to me are guys on the fence would love better options here tho I really really hope Carbonero/Gomez slide into the roster and bump out Carrascal Portilla, Deossa I would say are behind Puerta until the March friendlies I hope to god we getting a better 3rd GK than Ospina when Vargas and Montero are below average GKs to begin with.
* i agree about Ospina - he’s a locker room leader at best these days * I prefer Cristian Borja - but Angulo seems to be Nestor’s choice * Mina - if he’s healthy, he’s going. He’s a leader * Portilla is a good defensive sub - similar to how we had Mejia as a defensive sub in 14 and Barrios in 18 * Deossa - I like Deossa, but lack of opportunities may be too late for 26wc. Puerta playing in 2nd division concerns me * Yaser - potential super sub * Quintero - has that ability to prove us wrong whenever we doubt him * Borre - Nestor’s guy and has been scoring in Brazil * Cucho - hasn’t found his stride yet in 2026 so hopefully it’s just upside in the coming months
I do not get the hate for Montero. He is always solid for Colombia and is playing well in Argentina. I kinda get the hate for Ospina but he is an icon who has played more games for Colombia than any other player in history. He deserves some respect. Now do I want to see him start? No. Having him as a 3rd keeper is not really a bad idea at all though. Carrascal is playing some of the best futbol of his life these last six months or so. I think he is almost a lock as long as he is healthy.
Carrascal’s best games in yellow were in those early friendlies when we had all the new faces comes in during the 2nd half of games where they were able take advantage of an open game. I think Carrascal could have a role but in his past few appearances for Colombia he wasn’t moving the needle much the way Carbonero would off the bench. I’m on the fence with him but I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to the World Cup. I’ve always hated the concept of 3 GK’s for a World Cup team. The odds of using a 3rd GK are likely quite minimal especially given past trends - I’m willing to bet a 3rd GK gets used no more than once a tournament in the past 30 years and that’s an aggressive estimate Seems like we don’t even have a 3rd GK ready for international stage…so Ospina is there by default. I guess it’s easy to hate on Ospina when the recent goal by millionarios happenedthe same month we have international friendlies and the media starts showing their potential World Cup lists https://youtube.com/shorts/AYMzsp9Kv7o?si=iOQJeDoSADMBYUHJ
Think it’s Carrascal or Quintero as James sub. We don’t need both. Quintero fits that role better and where the coach puts him. Carrascal goes on the wing when he comes on and I prefer pretty much everyone he tried instead of Carrascal with the exception of Campaz and Serna