Colombia will face Japan in their first World Cup Group H match in Saransk on Tuesday.

"Our short-term goal is to reach the knockout stages, and this will be a tough task. We need to reach the quarter-finals and then do even better. But we respect the teams we are going to play against. We hope to play at the same level they will or maybe even better," Pekerman told journalists.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on 14 June and will continue until 15 July, with the matches set to be played in 11 cities across Russia. Colombia will take on Poland and Senegal in their other two Group H matches.