Just one day remains till the globe becomes hypnotized by national team football in the form of World Cup qualifiers. At World Cup Buzz, we’ve given you a some info on Asian, African, CONCACAF, and now we’ll let you know what’s going on in the toughest region of all, CONMEBOL – South America.
The big story heading into the qualifiers is the absence of Argentina’s Juan Roman Riquelme and his decision to quit Los Albicelestes after his beef with coach Diego Maradona. Maradona looks to rely on Independiente’s young midfielder Rolfi Montenegro to take Riquelme’s place. Riquelme’s absence should improve team chemistry as the Boca Juniors star is known to be a disruption. For Maradona, these matches will go a long way in determining how good a coach he is. Argentina faces Venezuela at home and Bolivia on the road and anything less than 4 points from those matches would be unacceptable.
Watch out for Ecuador during these next matches. Ecuador is the only team with both of their matches at home. Ecuador’s home form was the key to their qualification in 2006 and will be essential again this time around. In 2006 WCQ they were unbeaten at home taking 23 of 27 points, they have already lost at home this year. Too bad, Ecuador hosts 1st place Paraguay and 2nd place Brazil, if they can get 6 points from those home games they will shoot into the top 4 and place themselves in an excellent position for future qualifiers.
Paraguay is the only team to play these next matches on the road. First they travel to Montevideo to face Uruguay in a battle of the two top scoring teams in South America. 4 days later, La Albirroja have to travel to Quito to face Ecuador in the altitude. Paraguay has 23 points and if they can win both of those games then Paraguay can get ready to go to South Africa. Since CONMEBOL went to the single table in 1998 WC Qualifying, 29 points has been enough for at least 5th place. Paraguay could have 29 points with 6 matches remaining if they win out.
Here are the fixtures for the upcoming qualifiers – home teams listed first:
Saturday, March 28
Uruguay vs. Paraguay
Argentina vs. Venezuela
Colombia vs. Bolivia
Sunday, March 29
Ecuador vs. Brazil
Peru vs. Chile
Tuesday, March 31
Venezuela vs. Colombia
Wednesday, April 1
Bolivia vs. Argentina
Ecuador vs. Paraguay
Chile vs. Uruguay
Brazil vs. Peru
Here are the standings heading into this round of qualifying:
