In the lead-up to their highly anticipated Group K World Cup fixtures, Colombia’s national men’s football team has officially launched the final phase of their competitive preparations on Mexican soil, following a multi-phase training schedule spanning two countries.
The squad touched down in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara on Wednesday, and wasted no time getting to work: their first on-site training session took place Thursday, with the session opened to allow members of the local press and Guadalajara football fans to observe the team’s first workout in their new base camp.
Currently ranked 14th in the official FIFA global rankings, Colombia built up their fitness and tactical coordination in stages ahead of this final camp. The team began preliminary preparations at training facilities within their home nation, before moving to a second training block in California, United States, to acclimate to different playing conditions before traveling south to Mexico.
Colombia’s three Group K matches will take place across three different North American venues. Their opening group stage fixture is scheduled for next Wednesday in Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, where they will face off against Uzbekistan. They will return to Guadalajara for their second group match against Congo on June 23, before wrapping up group play against Portugal on June 27 in Miami, Florida.
Organizers and the Colombian coaching staff have already flagged a key environmental challenge the team will face in their first two matches: the high altitude of both Guadalajara and Mexico City, which can impact player endurance and breathing over the course of 90 minutes of competitive play.
For Colombia, this World Cup marks a chance to return to the global football stage after a disappointing cycle four years ago. The South American nation posted its best-ever World Cup result in 2014, hosted by neighboring Brazil, when the squad advanced all the way to the tournament quarterfinals before being eliminated. Four years later in Russia, the team exited the competition in the round of 16, and failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, leaving them hungry to prove their skill on the global stage once again.