World Cup 2018: 5 Russia-bound teams and their squad lists

#4 Colombia

The Colombian team will be one of the dark horses at the Mundial

Los Cafeteros (The Coffee Growers) as the Colombian team are known, may not be as well regarded as their more illustrious South American rivals like Brazil and Argentina.

But, the preliminary 35-team named by the veteran Argentine manager, José Pékerman has the look of a serious squad which could swim under the radar and cause a few upsets at Russia 2018.

There is no place in the team for on-loan Valencia center-back Jeison Murillo, while Russia 2018 is a tournament that came too early for exciting Deportivo Cali playmaker Nicolás Benedetti.

The manager has gone with a majority of the players who successfully scaled through the difficult CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers where the team finished in 4th place behind log leaders Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Bayern Munich star James Rodriguez (on-loan from Real Madrid) will be the focal point of the team and, is expected to do better than he did at Brazil 2014, where he was one of the stars of the tournament.

Old warhorse Radamel Falcao; the team's captain (who missed out of the last World Cup due to a serious injury) will look to plunder the goals needed while at the back, Tottenham Hotspur's Davinson Sanchez and FC Barcelona's Yerry Mina are expected to hold the line.

La Tricolor will fancy their chances of making the next round in Group H where they will come up against Poland, Japan, and Senegal.