Uzbekistan vs Colombia Prediction: Los Cafeteros’ scoring trend to continue

Uzbekistan mark their FIFA World Cup debut with a clash against Colombia in Group K on Wednesday (8pm local/Thursday 3am BST, BBC One). Los Cafeteros are back on this stage after failing to qualify for the tournament in Qatar four years ago.

Read on for my Uzbekistan vs Colombia predictions, featuring the latest match odds from Betfred and team news.

Team News

Uzbekistan boss Fabio Cannavaro likes to deploy a 3-4-2-1 system, so that's what we should expect from the debutants against Colombia.

Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov will be the key man in defence, and he'll likely be in for a busy shift up against Los Cafeteros' attacking stars.

Eldor Shomurodov will lead the line for the White Wolves and he's their all-time top scorer with 44.  He and Abbosbek Fayzullaev (both Istanbul Basaksehir) are the only other Uzbekistan stars who ply their trade in Europe domestically.

Shomurodov and Fayzullaev scored nine goals between them in qualifying.

Jaloliddin Masharipov is going to miss this match for Colombia because of a back issue. Luis Diaz and James Rodruguez should provide support to striker Luis Suarez.

There's also likely going to be a spot in the final third for Premier League flop Jhon Arias, who lasted just six months with Wolves.

Uzbekistan vs Colombia Odds

Uzbekistan are an 8/1 shot to mark their World Cup debut with a victory.

The draw is on offer at 7/2 while Colombia are the 2/5 favourites as they seek a third win in a row.

Five of Los Cafeteros' past six games have gone Over 2.5 Goals, which is available at 10/11 on this occasion.

Sub Switch - Pre-match Bet Builder and Single bets on qualifying Player selections.

To Score In Both Halves - Colombia @ 5/4

Colombia will be fired up for this World Cup campaign seeing as they had to watch the tournament in Qatar from home. They've slowly rebuilt since and they come into this tournament with pedigree and they are considered dark horses.

My colleague Nick even tipped them as outsiders to win the whole thing at 33/1. It'll take a few games to convince me if they can but I reckon they can get off to a strong start against Uzbekistan.

I'm backing Los Cafeteros to score in both halves, which they have accomplished in six of their past 10 fixtures, including their two recent warm-up friendlies.

Player To Score (Sub Switch) - Luis Diaz @ 23/20

Colombia winger Diaz has reignited his career at Bayern Munich, and he's had a stellar debut campaign in Germany. He bagged 26 goals in all competitions, helping the German giants to the Bundesliga title.

He looks primed to make a huge impact on the world stage and I think he can start his and his nation's campaign strongly with a goal against Uzbekistan. To date, Diaz has 16 goals in 47 competitive appearances for his country, including three in his last five.

The attacker also has two goals across the previous five friendlies in preparation for the tournament.

I've gone for the Sub Switch market which means the bet is still in play even if Diaz is substituted.