The final action in the Fifa World Cup Round of 32 comes from Kansas City in the early hours of Saturday morning where Colombia clash with Ghana
Colombia
Colombia topped Group K, unbeaten with 7 points. Portugal were second with 5 points and DR Congo also qualified from third place with 4 points whilst Uzbekistan failed to earn a point and have returned home.
Colombia’s 0-0 draw with Portugal in their final group match in Miami rubber stamped top spot up in the group. They had the better of an entertaining match despite the lack of goals although Colombia were desperately unlucky to have what would have been a late winner chalked off by VAR.
Earlier Colombia sealed a place in the last 32 with a 1-0 win over Dr Congo in Guadalajara to make it 2 wins from 2. Daniel Munoz scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute, his second goal of the tournament.
Colombia had started with a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan in Mexico City. Munoz gave them the lead just before half time but they were pegged back on the hour mark. Luiz Diaz put them back in front on 65 minutes before Jaminton Campaz sealed the win deep into injury time.
Ghana
Ghana eventually came through group L as a best third placed finisher. England topped that grou with 7 points, 1 more than Croatia. The Black Stars finished on 4 points and Panama left the tournament empty handed.
Although Ghana lost their final group match 2-1 to Croatia in Philadelphia 4 points was always going to be enough to see them through to the Round of 32. They were 1-0 down at half time but thought they had preserved their unbeaten record when Derrick Luckassen levelled things up on 73 minutes only for Croatia to regain the lead 10 minutes later and that’s how it stayed.
Ghana played out a 0-0 draw with England in Boston in their second group outing. They were content to let England have the ball and play on the counter and England only had limited opportunities the closest of which saw them hit the woodwork in the closing moments.
Ghana’s opening match against Panama in Toronto also looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw but in the fifth minute of injury time Caleb Yirenkyi broke the deadlock and the Black Stars came through with a 1-0 win.
The Betting (Regulation time unless stated otherwise)
Colombia are priced at around 5/10 to win the game with the draw available at 3/1 and Ghana can be backed at around 6/1
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at ??? and its ??? for both teams to score
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The Verdict:
This Ghana side under Carlos Quiroz is vastly different in style to what we have seen from previous Black Stars line ups and I don’t see them changing much now we are in the knockout rounds. I believe Colombia will edge this by the minimum margin
Bets: Colombia to win by 1 goal exactly at 22/10 with Sportingbet
Note, odds are subject to change