When Colombia trudged from the Estadio Sausalito pitch having been defeated on penalties by Argentina in their Copa America quarter final it capped a dismal tournament for the Colombians.
The hope that had preceded the Colombian's Copa America campaign after a wonderful run to the latter stages of the 2014 World Cup were totally dashed and the Colombian team faced a crisis of identity, with senior players struggling to justify their position and young talent forcing the hand of coach Jose Pekerman to make changes.
One man who did not start the match in Vina del Mar that evening was Radamel Falcao. Falcao is Colombia's top goal scorer ever but ever since injuring himself in January 2014 has looked a shadow of the player which regularly netted for Porto and Atletico Madrid.
Falcao has also struggled this season since joining English champions Chelsea and will be looking to use his time with the Colombian national team to silence his critics and reinvigorate his apparently flailing career.
Falcao's team mate David Ospina has been backing Falcao and remains confident that "El Tigre" will return to his former self.
Ospina said: "We know the quality of Falcao. We are calm."
Ospina and Falcao will not be joined by the Real Madrid attacker James Rodriguez who is suffering with a muscle injury and will likely miss Los Cafeteros following match with Uruguay as well.
Ospina also spoke about Peru and the respect that Colombia will show the Copa America 2015 third place finishers saying: "We must respect the work of Peru. They are excellent players with a mix of experience and youth."
"They have important players in their respective teams. They are strong defensively, have a great goalkeeper, great forwards and are a very compact team."
Peru held the Colombian team to a 0-0 draw during the group stage of the Copa America, as well as a draw in last month's friendly match between the two sides.
Peru, though, face questions over their own attack. Star players Paolo Guerrero and Jefferson Farfan are senior players over the age of 30 and though the pairing should of a high enough level for the campaign to Russia, the transition of younger pretenders seems to have stalled.
In the shadow of Brazil and Argentina both teams will be hoping to leave Barranquilla with three precious points and start their journey to seal one of the top four automatic qualifying places.
When: Thursday, October 8th
Where: Estadio Metropolitano, Barranquilla
Kick Off: 16:30 ET
TV Schedule: BeIn Sports USA
Live Stream: BeIN Sports Connect
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