Colombia faces Peru this Friday, September 6, at the National Stadium of Lima. The Tricolor is seeking a win to keep them among the top spots in the Qualifiers with the goal of getting closer to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. They will face the current bottom team in the South American qualifiers.
Néstor Lorenzo has the majority of the players who reached the final in the last Copa América in the United States as the base of his squad, among them the experienced defender Yerry Mina, who at 29 years old and standing at 1.94m tall would reach his ninth match with the Colombian national team since taking charge of the Argentine strategist. In total, the player from Guachené has 46 matches with Colombia, including friendly and official games, where he has scored 7 goals.
Yerry Mina will have a special match if he manages to get minutes with the national team away in Peru, as the defender will face one of his club teammates. At Cagliari, Mina has already played 16 matches since his arrival at the beginning of this year, and most of these have been on the field with Gianluca Lapadula.
At the Italian club, Lapadula has played at the same time on the field with Yerry in 14 matches. They recently saved their category in the last period in Serie A, where both played with their club, achieving 3 victories, 6 draws, and 5 losses.
In terms of selections, Yerry Mina is more experienced than his Cagliari teammate, having played for the Tricolor since 2016. He has previous experience in the World Cup and holds several starting positions in the Qualifiers and Copa América, where he even recently became the runner-up. For a defender, his 7 goals are impressive, 3 of which were scored at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Lapadula has not had the chance to compete in a World Cup with the Peruvian national team, the farthest he reached was a playoff against Australia in 2022. He has a total of 36 matches and has scored 10 goals as a forward with the Blanquirroja.
This will not be the first time that Mina and Lapadula meet in a match, as both have already faced each other four times, all in Colombia vs. Peru duels. In the Copa América 2021, they played against each other twice, first in the group stage where the Bicolor won 2-1, and where Mina unfortunately scored an own goal. Then in the third-place match where the Colombians won 3-2, and Lapadula scored one of the goals for the Peruvians.
In the Qualifiers, Mina and Lapadula also met, first in Lima in 2021 when Colombia won 3-0, and then in Barranquilla in 2022 when the Peruvians stunned with a 1-0 victory.