By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN
Fifty matches down, forty more to go.
CONMEBOL's roller-coaster marathon for the right to qualify to South Africa 2010 continues this weekend as all 10 national squads in South American still have a fighting mathematical chance to grab the four available automatic berths to the World Cup. The fifth-placed team will go up against CONCACAF's fourth-placed team.
At the moment, Uruguay sits in that fifth slot with 13 points but is closely followed by Ecuador (12), Colombia (11) and Venezuela (10). Bolivia (9) and Peru (7) need miraculous conclusions to their respective campaigns to even think about facing off with a rival north of South America.
Paraguay (23) leads the pack, with Brazil (17), Argentina (16) and Chile (16) comfortably sitting pretty…at least before this weekend.
Here is a closer look at this weekend's South American World Cup qualifying match-ups:
URUGUAY v. PARAGUAY
SATURDAY, 4PM
How many times have we been inundated with the 'defense wins games' memo?
Well, the Paraguayans are writing a perfect script on How To Successfully Qualify Out Of South America. The Guaranies are running away with the top post in the continent's table and are looking to book a ticket to South Africa as quickly as possible not only to make life easier on themselves but to also alert the world that South America is not only Brazil and Argentina.
Not only has Paraguay held their opponents scoreless in seven of the past 10 rounds with one of the stingiest defenses on the planet, they also boast a talented offensive artillery including Salvador Cabanas (America of Mexico) and Nelson Haedo (Borussia Dortmund), both of whom will need to step it up a notch in the absence of the prolific but injured Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn).
But Uruguay will have home-field advantage at the infamous Centenario Stadium. The Charruas, always known as a South American giant, have only qualified to one of the past four WCs and doesn't intend to sit 2010 out.
They have the firepower to oust the current leaders with Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), young sensation Luis Suares (Ajax)–who's tallied nine goals in 14 outings for his country–as well as a midfield contingent of Sebastian Eguren (Villareal), Cristian Rodriguez (Porto) and Diego Perez (Monaco).
ARGENTINA v. VENEZUELA
SATURDAY, 6PM
Juan Roman Riquelme won't be there but Maradona will.
Monumental Stadium should be rocking when Argentina's most famous number 10 makes his long-awaited debut as manager in the qualifiers, capping off a month of soap-opera headlines of Maradona's rift with Riquelme.
Riquelme quit the national team after Maradona made comments regarding his playing style but Argentina's stars are moving on without him, refusing to dissect the situation to the press. The Argentines are stone-faced focused on its tilt with the Vinotinto.
The Venezuelans are no longer the whipping boys of South America. That status is long forgotten and they would love nothing more than to build upon their modestly-successful campaigns in the past two World Cup cycles at a venue where Argentina seldom loses in front of one of the most passionate crowd on the planet.
And morale is further boosted by Venezuela's under-20 team recent qualifying to the World Cup, which is that country's first berth in any official international tournament.
Influential playmaker Juan Arango (Mallorca), Tomas Rincon (Borussia Dortmund) and Jorge Rojas (Red Bull New York) will look to shock the world.
But Venezuela will have to go up against Argentina's trio of power in Carlos Tevez (Man U), Lionel Messi (Barca) and Serio Aguero (Atl. Madrid), all of whom Maradona plans to have in the starting 11 on Saturday.
COLOMBIA v. BOLIVIA
SATURDAY, 8:20PM
Restless fans are wondering if their beloved Colombian squad will be able to score at all this weekend against Bolivia.
Astonishingly, the Cafeteros have only netted four gals in the first 10 rounds and have not won in its past six qualifiers so it will be up to forwards Hugo Rodallega (Wigan) and Radamel Falcao Garcia (River Plate) to provide some spark. Midfielders Macnelly Torres (Colo Colo, Chile) and Vladimir Marin (Libertad, Paraguay) have been enjoying successfull Libertadores campaigns.
On paper, Colombia should be able to walk away with three points against Bolivia, which hasn't qualified since USA '94.
Bolivia will be hoping its captain Ronald Raldes will be able to shake off several months of non-competition since he's been without a club for a while, that is until earlier this week when he signed for Mexico's Cruz Azul.
The Bolivians will be boosted by veteran Pablo Escobar's (Clube Santo Andre, Brazil) recent two-goal match against Botafogo and youngster Marcelo Martins (Shakhtar Donestk, Ukrania), who has five goals i 11 matches for his country.
ECUADOR v. BRAZIL
SUNDAY, 5PM
The Brazilians will try to avoid a third-straight defeat in the high-altitude city of Quito when they visit an Ecuadorean team vying for a third consecutive appearance in the World Cup.
Brazil lost by 1-0 scorelines in each of its last two qualifiers in Ecuador and could be in for a difficult game with Kaka and Adriano nursing injuries. Ronaldinho also was selected by manager Dunga after not being picked in Brazil's last two qualifiers but is also coping with ACL issues.
Meanwhile, Ecuador has called in the English-based trio of Antonio Valencia (Wigan), Segundo Castillo (Everton) and Felipe Caicedo (Man City) as well as six players from reigning Liberatores champions Liga de Quito.
The Ecuadorean squad has been a rising force in South America in the past decade, producing world-class players, taking care of business by grabbing wins at home and developing a competitive league, which helped Liga obtain Ecuador's first-ever international title.
PERU v. CHILE
SUNDAY, 7:10PM ET
Only the Argentina-Brazil and Argentina-Uruguay matches can top this Clasico del Pacifico rivalry between the Peruvians and Chileans.
Players on both sides will shrug it off as a sporting duel but it's a match that involves on- and off-the-pitch storylines no matter what the press, players and coaching staff say.
Chile, pushing for its first berth since France '98, is playing some splendid soccer under Argentine caretaker Marcelo 'El Loco' Bielsa and the Rojos even have more wins under their belts than Argentina and Brazil in this campaign.
Chile boasts some fantastic players in Alexis Sanchez (Udinese), Matias Fernandez (Villareal), Hector Mancilla (Toluca) and Mark Gonzelez (Betis).
For Peru, which hasn't qualified for a World Cup since Spain '82, manager Jose Del Solar again chose to leave out four stars who were disciplined for allegedly partying after a 1-1 match against Brazil. Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen), Jefferson Farfan (Schalke), Andres Mendoza (Monarcas Morelia) and Santiago Acasiete (Almeria) have not been recalled despite their suspensions being lifted.
Peru will also be missing in-form striker Paolo Guerrero (Hamburg) who was suspended for several matches after his misconduct against officials in Peru's 6-0 drubbing in Uruguay.
Juan Vargas (Fiorentina) hasn't recaptured his form from a few months ago and Nolberto Solano (Universitario de Deportes, Peru) is not getting any younger.
To top it all off, Chile and Peru are embroiled in a bitter maritime border lawsuit but both sides have called to separate politics from soccer.
What do you think of the CONMEBOL qualifiers? Which game will you be watching? Who do you think CONCACAF prefers to face from CONMEBOL?
Share your thoughts below.
I think Peru should turn to new players. I think the chances of qualifying are slim to none at this point. Therefore it would be best to get the young guys some experience and let them develop.
As for the players ban being lifted, I think it is best they stay home. It is not like they were winning with them.
I’m surprised Montero and Angel are not in the rotation of the Columbian national team. They are both in exceptional form, and I doubt they wouldn’t have an impact as at least a sub.
Great article. I try to follow the CONMEBOL division as much as possible. It is truly a marathon.
another quality blog item. great stuff.
I second Montero for the USA!
BJR
that is hilarious.
since Montero didn’t get called in for Colombia, can we start the naturalization process now?
Great piece, I like this new section. I follow the CONMEBOL qualifiers. Like the fact you guys included this. I think the weak team that might be sittin at 5 when it is all said and done will be Colombia.
Chile has a great team. I saw them beat Argentina in Santiago (not personally, on tv) and they bring the goods. I expect them to thump Peru in their classico, despite being on the road.
mon the ecuador
I’ve seen bars where 4 gals get bagged after only a few rounds. They are usually lightweights though.
I will definitely be wearing my Ecuador jersey this weekend (though I must say, it is pretty ugly!). Unless Brazil has been training in Quito for the past week, they’ll have a tough time dealing with the altitude… 3 points would put them in a great spot, especially if Uruguay loses.
Great preview, however, the phrase fantastic player and Mark Gonzalez should never be used in a sentence. The guy has so much potential, but is made of glass (anyone who watched Liverpool in 2006-07 knows what I am talking about).
Is bagging 4 gals in 10 rounds good or bad? I would go for 1 gal a week.
and i learned about riquelme v maradona. very interesting.
Great preview! Count me in as one person who’s rooting for the underdog (Venezuela) to go through. I have no idea why.. but they are the only team in CONMEBOL who’s never qualified. Reason enough for me.
nice write up
Appreciate the preview, thanks. VIVA Colombia
Great job Nestor. This is a really good preview. I had no idea that Paraguay had such a huge lead. Pivotal home games for Ecuador and Uruguay against more talented sides here. If one loses and the other gets all three points it could go a long way towards grabbing that fifth spot. And I still wouldn’t be surprised if Chile gets caught by both teams. Should be interesting.