Colombia to face Chile with Macnelly Torres as starter

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SANTIAGO.- Colombia is set to go up against Chile at 6:40PM today in an attempt to secure a spot in the classification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

As part of their strategy, the Colombian team's coach, Jorge Luis Pinto, has stated that he will make "four or five changes", but has so far only mentioned two "new" names:  Pablo Armero and Pedro Portocarrero.

On the defense, Armero will debut at the qualifying match as a left-forward replacing Estiven Vélez, while center-fielder Luis Amaranto Perea may replace Camilo Zúñiga as a right striker and could be paired with Aquivaldo Mosquera. Meanwhile, Portocarreo would take Perea's place.

There could also be some changes to center field: José Amaya may be put in instead of Carlos Sánchez and Colo Colo player Macnelly Torres may go in for Giovanni Hernández.  On the offense, Tressor Moreno could replace Radamel Falcao García.

According to the Colombian newspaper "El País", coach Jorge Luis Pinto "is considering the possibility getting rid of the set-up since Hernández and Torres have not been able to perform with it. Torres would be brought back and the team would play a 4-4-2 set up or a 4-5-1, but not the 4-3-1-2 that it used against Uruguay".

Juan Luis Pinto himself stated, "we will attack because there is space", following the squad's latest practice yesterday in Santiago.