On Tuesday night, the Round of 16 ties at the 2018 FIFA World Cup will finish with a fascinating affair between Colombia and England. Los Cafeteros find themselves in a very tough spot, as James Rodriguez is struggling with an injury and they have an ugly head to head record against the Three Lions. Throughout the years, Colombia haven't won any of the previous five official meetings.

independent.co.uk

It will be the second time the two meet at the World Cup, with England winning 2-0 in 1998 during the final round of group stage fixtures to dump Colombia out of the competition. Hernan Dario Gomez, who coached the Panama team in Russia, and his team were beaten by two wonder strikes from Darren Anderton and David Beckham.

In five matches, Colombia have scored only three goals against England. Two of them came in the most recent meeting in 2005. Mario Yepes and Aldo Ramirez got the goals for Colombia, but Michael Owen was unstoppable in the game which was played at the famous Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Owen, who had just finished his only season at Real Madrid, scored the final of his two England hattricks.

Over the last 13 years, Colombia have greatly improved, but they heavily rely on James and with him not being 100% fit, Jose Pekerman's team faces an uphill battle in the search for the first-ever win against England, who have a 3W-2D-0L record in head to head matches.