Uruguay took a huge leap towards getting back into the race to qualifying for South Africa 2010 with a convincing win over first place Paraguay at the mythical Centenario in Montevideo. It was the vanguard (Diego Forlán and Diego Lugano) that scored both goals for Oscar Washington Tabárez’ club. They will now face a Chile side in Santiago that made history against archrivals Peru.
1984 was the last time Chile won in Lima courtesy of a Jorge Aravena goal. This time around Chile faced terrible opposition from the time they landed in Peruvian territory. Local authorities were considering this match high-risk as tensiones were running high and military police would be in attendance. Alexis Sánchez scored in the second minute and Chile just poured it on against a Peruvian side that showed signs of possibly breaking through the Chilean back line, but it was La Roja that would do the opposite. Fellow Colo Colo alums Humberto Suazo and Matías Fernández would round out the scored for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Speaking of Colo Colo, MacNelly Torres might have permanently left Giovanni Hernández out of the Colombian national team after his performance against Bolivia. Los Cafeteros broke their 469-minute dryspell in qualifying play when Torres beat Carlos Arias with a brilliant strike. Wason Rentería would ice the game for Eduardo Lara’s side with an 88th minute score. They will now head to Puerto Ordaz to face a wounded Venezuela side.
The Vinotinto came into the the Monumental to face a recharged Argentina side with hopes of simply holding on. That was cardinal sin number one. They were the sacrificial lamb in Diego Maradona’s competitive debut as Albiceleste coach. The Shorties came out in full force as all three of them scored. Lionel Messi opened the scoring with a briliant finish against Reny Vega. Carlos Tevez would then double the Argentine lead with a wonderful one-time volley after Messi crossed the ball into the box. Maxi Rodriguez would score the third with the assistance of a gaffe by Vega. Then Sergio Agüero, with his newborn son Benjamin in the stands, would score the final goal of the match. Argentina will now face Bolivia in the altitude of La Paz midweek.
We saw what the altitude can do to teams, and why some of the teams going to play there fear it so much. Brazil played what could be categorized as their worst game in the Dunga regime. Ecuador played their best game in the Sixto Vizuete era. Yet Brazil were two minutes away from getting all three points from Quito. The loss dropped them to fourth in standings and they have no other choice than to do two things they haven’t done in three matches at home- score and win. If they fail to do so and Uruguay win in Santiago, the alarms will stop sounding- because the air raid sirens will go off.
Yep, yep. CONEMBOL is heating up.
Uruguay 2-0 Paraguay
URU: Forlán (28′), Lugano (56′)
Argentina 4-0 Venezuela
ARG: Messi (25′), Tevez (46′), Rodríguez (51′), Agüero (72′)
Colombia 2-0 Bolivia
COL: Torres (26′), Rentería (88′)
Ecuador 1-1 Brazil
ECU: Noboa (88′)
BRA: Julio Baptista (72′)
Peru 1-3 Chile
PER: Fano (34′)
CHI: Sánchez (2′), Suazo (31′ pen), Fernández (69′)
Paraguay 23
Argentina 19
Chile 19
Brazil 18
——————–
Uruguay 16
——————-
Colombia 14
Ecuador 13
Venezuela 10
Bolivia 9
Peru 7