Uruguay train ahead of Colombia match

Uruguay's soccer team trained this weekend with their upcoming World Cup Russia 2018 South America Qualifiers home match against Colombia on Tuesday in mind, spurred on by their 2-0 triumph over Bolivia in the first match of the competition.

Coach Oscar Tabarez will surely include main right back Maximiliano Pereira in his squad for this match. The Porto (Portugal) player missed out on the competition's opening match in La Paz on Thursday as he was unable to adapt to the Bolivian city's 3,600 metres altitude.

Defensive midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios is also expected to join the team after recovering from an injury.

It is almost certain that winger Cristian Rodriguez will miss the match as he was injured in the first half of the Bolivia match and had to be replaced.

Midfielder Matias Corujo (Universidad de Chile) said that the match against Colombia will be "extremely important" because "we are going to face team full of very good players and with lots of experience."

"We need to make ourselves strong as the home side and get the three points," Corujo told local media.

Midfielder Camilo Mayada (River Plate) said that Colombia is "one of the best teams on the continent. They have players from the big leagues and they are one of the world leaders."

Taberez will continue with the same team that won in La Paz plus Pereira and Arevalo Rios. It is thought that forward Abel Hernandez will not play to give him a rest from his great display on Thursday. Diego Rolan is expected to replace him.

Uruguay trained in the afternoon on Saturday and will continue to do so Sunday and Monday afternoon as well in the Uruguay Celeste complex on the outskirts of Montevideo. Endit