Colombia vs Ghana: World Cup Round of 32 Prediction & Preview

World Cup 2026 has reached the Round of 32, and Saturday's clash between Colombia and Ghana at Kansas City Stadium is a first: the two nations have never met before on a football pitch. A place in the last 16 is on the line.

Form guide

Colombia topped Group K with seven points, opening with a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan before beating DR Congo 1-0 and drawing 0-0 with pre-tournament favourites Portugal — a run that saw them concede only once in three games.

Ghana advanced as one of the best third-placed sides from Group L on four points, drawing 0-0 with co-hosts England and beating Panama 1-0, either side of a 2-1 defeat to Croatia.

What the model says

Running the fixture through our Correct Score AI software, Colombia come out as the clear favourites — the model has them at 69% to find the net convincingly, a number that lines up closely with the wider consensus elsewhere (Opta's own supercomputer has Colombia winning 68.9% of its pre-match simulations).

The read also leans toward goals at both ends: an Over 2.5 signal on the total, alongside a 1X (Colombia win or draw) call on the overall result. In short — the model backs Colombia to control the game without expecting a shutout at the other end.

Players to watch

For Colombia, Luis Díaz and Luis Suárez lead the line, with James Rodríguez pulling the strings behind them — a front three that's been part of a run of six goals scored and none conceded across the team's last five matches combined with their pre-tournament friendlies.

Ghana will look to Antoine Semenyo and Kamaldeen Sulemana to make something happen on the counter, though Semenyo is still searching for his first shot on target at this tournament. Off the bench, Abdul Fatawu has created more chances than any other Ghana player despite playing under two full matches' worth of minutes — he could be the difference if Carlos Queiroz needs a spark.

The bottom line

Kick-off is at Kansas City Stadium, with a Round of 16 place the reward for the winner. Whatever the software says, this is a first-time meeting between two sides with everything to play for — and form doesn't always agree with history in a one-off knockout game.

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