Spain and Colombia will continue their preparations for huge summer tournaments with a friendly encounter at West Ham United's London Stadium on Friday night.
Colombia are working towards the 2024 Copa America, which begins towards the end of June, while Spain will compete at the European Championship in Germany, opening their tournament in the middle of June.
Match preview
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Spain were impressive in their Euro 2024 qualification campaign, winning seven of their eight matches to pick up 21 points, which saw them top Group A, four points ahead of Scotland and 11 clear of Norway in third.
La Roja have three friendlies in the diary before opening their European Championship challenge against Croatia on June 15, with Brazil their opponents on March 26, and Andorra at the start of June.
As well as Croatia, Luis de la Fuente's side will tackle Italy and Albania in the group stage of Euro 2024, and it will be fascinating to see how the three-time winners perform this summer, having been eliminated in the round of 16 and semi-finals since last enjoying success in the tournament in 2012.
Spain were knocked out in the last-16 stage of the 2022 World Cup by Morocco on penalties, but there is a confidence around the camp at this moment in time, with the squad having the right mix of youth and experience, and La Roja simply cannot be written off this summer.
The European nation will bring an eight-game winning run into this match, while they have also been victorious in their last four friendlies, with their last non-competitive game coming against Jordan in late 2022.
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Colombia's last two matches have actually been friendlies, beating Venezuela 1-0 and Mexico 3-2 in their final two games of 2023, and the national side are now preparing for their first fixture of 2024.
La Tricolor will take on Romania in another friendly on March 26 before facing United States at the start of June, and their 2024 Copa America campaign will then begin against Paraguay on June 24.
Colombia won the Copa America in 2001 and have finished third in two of the last three tournaments, so they will be expected to advance deep into the competition, and the national side will bring a long unbeaten run into their clash with Spain on Friday night.
Indeed, the South American nation are unbeaten in their last 19 matches in all competitions, with their last defeat proving to be a 1-0 reverse to Argentina in February 2022.
Nestor Lorenzo's side are on a four-game winning run in all competitions, meanwhile, including a 2-1 success over Brazil in November, and the talented outfit will provide stern competition for Spain in London.
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Team News
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Spain boss De la Fuente is expected to name a strong starting XI on Friday, with captain Alvaro Morata, who has 34 goals for the national team, set to lead the line once again.
Nico Williams and Dani Olmo are likely to join Morata in the front three, while absences for Pedri and Gavi through injury will open up a midfield spot, which could be taken by Mikel Merino.
Alex Remiro, Pau Cubarsi and Dani Vivian are the three uncapped players in the squad, and all three will be hoping to secure their first senior international action over the next two matches.
Alejandro Grimaldo could earn just his second cap as a starter at left-back, while Aymeric Laporte and Robin Le Normand are likely to be the starters in the middle of the defence.
As for Colombia, Yerry Mina, Davinson Sanchez, Mateus Uribe and Juan Cuadrado are notable absentees for the national side due to injury problems.
There is still plenty of quality and experience in the squad, though, and David Ospina is likely to earn his 129th cap between the sticks, while James Rodriguez should move onto 97 appearances for the South American nation.
Liverpool's Luis Diaz has 11 goals in 45 appearances for Colombia and is set to feature in the final third, while there could also be a start for Juan Fernando Quintero.
Rafael Santos Borre has five goals in 30 caps for La Tricolor, and the 28-year-old is expected to lead the line for Lorenzo's side on Friday night.
Spain possible starting lineup:
Simon; Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Grimaldo; Merino, Rodri, Ruiz; Olmo, Morata, N Williams
Colombia possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Munoz, Mojica, Lucumi, Arias; Castano, Carrascal; Quintero, Rodriguez, Diaz; Borre
We say: Spain 2-1 Colombia
This has all of the makings of a fantastic match, and we are expecting it to be a closely-contested affair. It is always difficult to predict exactly what will happen in friendly matches, especially between teams of this quality, but we are backing Spain to secure a narrow success on Friday night.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
