South American World Cup Qualification - 10th Round

In a brief post here are the results from matchday 10 of South American qualifying competition for the World Cup.

• Chile vs. Argentina: 1-0
• Bolivia vs. Uruguay: 2-2
• Paraguay vs. Peru: 1-0
• Brazil vs. Colombia: 0-0
• Venezuela vs. Ecuador: 3-1

These results leaving the qualifying table looking like this:

1. Paraguay: 23 pts.
2. Brazil: 17 pts
3. Argentina 17 pts.
4. Chile 16 pts.
5. Uruguay 13 pts.
6. Ecuador 12 pts.
7. Colombia 11 pts.
8. Venezuela 10 pts.
9. Bolivia 9 pts.
10. Peru 7 pts.
    

Paraguay are seemingly running away with the qualification campaign leaving the region's giants - Brazil and Argentina - to fumble about, scrapping points against teams they should normally be able to put away with ease. For Argentina, their defeat away to Chile, the first time this has happened in absolute eons, marked the end for Argentine coach Alfio Basile. The writing had supposedly been on the wall for a good few months now. Lacklustre performances, an endless procession of drab draws in recent matches was not want the Argentine public were demanding. Especailly since Argentina stormed to a gold medal at the Olympics, sweeping aside Brazil along the way. But, this under the guidance of the younger a more attack-minded Sergio Batista - Basile having opted of a leading the young Argentine squad at the Olympics.

Here is what BBC's Latin American football specialist Tim Vickery of Basile's legacy:

But as Basile leaves the scene, he deserves to be remembered. He is one of the game's romantics, for whom the joy of expression speaks louder than the fear of defeat - a philosophy that might be old fashioned, but which should never be out of date.

He remains the last Argentina coach to win a title at senior level - the 1991 and 93 Copa America triumphs from his first spell in charge, which ended with one of the great World Cup matches of recent times, the 3-2 defeat to Romania in 1994. It was a classic tie of attack versus counter-attack, made attractive by the fact that Argentina accepted the risks of taking the game to their opponents.

The highlight of his second spell, before the breakdown in relationships started corroding performance, came last year in the Copa America.It ended in tears, stiffled and picked off by Brazil in the final. But the previous matches were an exhibition of passing football, patient and audacious, hypnotic and dazzling. Being there in Venezuela to watch Alfio Basile's side in action was an immense privilege

Qualification games take a bit of a break for the next few months, with the next not taking place until late March. Plenty of time I'm sure for the Argentine media to get hyped up about the return of the prodigal son, Maradonna, as a possible successor.

South American World Cup Qualification: Round #9

Here are the results and standings from the weekend's South American Qualification games:

• Bolivia vs Peru 3-0
• Argentina vs. Uruguay 2-1
• Colombia vs. Paraguay 0-1
• Venezuela vs. Brazil 0-4
• Ecuador vs. Chile: 1-0

1. Paraguay 20 pts.
2. Brazil 16 pts.
3. Argentina 16 pts.
4. Chile 13 pts.
5. Uruguay 12 pts
6. Ecuador 12 pts
7. Colombia 12 pts
8. Bolivia 8 pts
9. Venezuela 7 pts
10. Peru 7 pts
    

Paraguay remain on course for World Cup 2010 qualification and with a home game coming up against Peru this Wednesday should be able to consolidate their standing at the top of the South American group. Any doubts that Brazil would be struggling in this qualification group are being slowly laid to rest as they notched up another victory, albeit against minnows footballing minnows Venezuela.

South American World Cup Qualification - 6th Round

Whilst Brazil's former coach was getting knocked out of Euro 2008 with Portugal, his former side weren't making much progress back in South America. Brazil played out a dreary 0-0 draw against arch-rivals Argentina in the so-called clásico. A result that now leaves them in 5th place in the South American qualification table for the 2010 World Cup. Of course the Brazilian press were quick to pile the criticism on Brazil's coach Dunga

The Brazilian media were in no doubt as to who was responsible for the Canarinha's unsatisfactory showing. The harshest criticism came from Lance!, which ran with a cover featuring Dunga's head inside a noose and topped by the headline "Hung". "Brazil draw with Argentina as the fans vent their fury on coach - Zico now the popular choice," fumed the sports daily.O'Globo also registered its displeasure on its website. "Dunga gets the donkey treatment as off-key Brazil draw 0-0 with Argentina," ran the merciless headline. Publishing a photo of Ronaldinho in the stands at the Estadio Mineirao, the website added that the Barcelona man and Kaka were sorely missed, stating that "without them the future looks bleak". With Brazil's other stars having another off day, O'Globo also remarked on the warm applause Lionel Messi received when he was substituted.Running with a front page photo of a closely marked Adriano trapping the ball on his chest, Jornal do Brasil opted for a short but no less powerful headline: "270 minutes without a goal". The online version of the paper was just as critical: "Even with the Mineirao right behind them, Brazil were incapable of beating Argentina. To cap it all, the fans chanted 'Dunga out' as he made his way off the pitch. All in all, a sad goodbye for a coach who had stakedeverything on this game."Joining in the chorus of disapproval was Folha de Sao Paulo. "What a miserable clásico", it complained before highlighting the fans' displeasure: "The crowd whistled the team and demanded Dunga's sacking." (source: fifa.com)

Otherwise results of note included group leaders Paraguay losing 4-2 to Bolivia. Bottom spot in the group now belongs to Peru after being 6-0 thumping by Uruguay. And Chile have now displaced Brazil from the important 4th place spot - the top 4 teams qualify for the World Cup -with an exciting 3-2 away win to Venezuela.

Results:

• Brazil vs Argentina: 0-0
• Venezuela vs Chile: 2-3
• Ecuador vs Colombia: 0-0
• Uruguay vs Peru: 6-0
• Bolivia vs Paraguay 4-2

Table:

1. Paraguay.....13 pts
2. Argentina....11 pts
3. Colombia.....10 pts
4. Chile.............10 pts
5. Brazil.............9 pts
6. Uruguay........8 pts
7. Venezuela.....7 pts
8. Ecuador.........5 pts
9. Bolivia............4 pts
10. Peru...............3 pts

Here is a good youtube video with all the highligts from this weeks' games. Disfrutenlo!

South American World Cup Qualification - 5th Round

So whilst the major European soccer power (minus England, I guess) slug it out for the European championship this summer, South American nations took another step in their long and arduous qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup. Up until now, after 4 games, the story had been of Paraguay leading the way with 10 points, and I guess of Brazil still not having started to fire on all cylinders, with only 2 wins from 4 games.

Well yesterday’s 5th round of qualifying matches emphasised those points with Paraguay stunning the Brazilians with a 2-0 victory in Asuncion. With plenty of games still to go and the first 4 teams guaranteed qualification there is no need to push the Brazilian panic button quite yet, but still…

Otherwise it’s a case of ‘as you were’ with all 3 of the ties ending in draws and Bolivia predictably losing to their age-old enemies Chile in La Paz – so much for the advantage of altitude. And also of note is Venezuela's progress. They're normally the team cemented to the bottom, given how Baseball probably overrides football as their national sport.


Bolivia vs. Chile 0-2
Argentina vs. Ecuador 1-1
Peru vs. Colombia 1-1
Uruguay vs. Venezuela 1-1
Paraguay vs. Brazil 2-0

_______________________

The table now looks a bit like this:

1. Paraguay 13 pts

2. Argentina 10 pts

3. Colombia 9 pts

4. Brazil 8 pts

5. Venzuela 7 pts

6. Chile 7 pts

7. Uruguay 5 pts

8. Ecuador 4 pts

9. Peru 3 pts

10. Bolivia 1 pt

________________

Below are a few youtube video highligths of the differetn games. The quailty isn't great but the audio commentary is as outrageously South American as one could hope for. Enjoy...

Paraguay vs. Brazil: 2-0

Argentina vs. Ecuador: 1-1

Bolivia vs. Chile: 0-2

Peru vs. Colombia: 1-1

Uruguay vs. Venezuela: 1-1

The next round of games take place later this week with the obvious highlight being the battle of the titans- Brazil vs Argentina. Paraguay should also be looking to consolidate thier lead at the top of the table with a relatively easy game against the Bolivians. But I'll make sure to let you all know how they got on.

Tragedy in the Andes

The Sunday press here in the UK have all been leading with the tragic news of five young Britons who were killed in a horrific bus crash in Ecuador. Five young gap-year students all on the so-called 'trip of a lifetime'.

It is quite stereotypical to paint Latin America as some dark continent with unknown dangers at every turn. It some ways it's true and I for one am surprised as to how my own parents were seemingly so calm in letting head off into the Latin American hinterland at the mere age of 17.

But what must the parents of those 5 young Britons being going through right now? The morning phone-in on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning followed up on the tragedy talking and it seems this particular has incident has touched upon a particular nerve. How meaningless for such young people to die in such a meaningless way.

Yes there are inherent dangers to travelling in Latin America. Thankfully I've 'only' experienced a single mugging (La Boca, Buenos Aires) plus a series of pick-pocket episodes. Honestly though it's travelling on the roads that is the single most dangerous thing anyone can do whilst traversing the Latin American continent. Dodgy buses, overtired/intoxicated drivers, bad roads, perilous mountain tracks and a general reckless attitude to driving all make road accidents probably the number one cause of accidental deaths.

My Bolivian host-Dad once gave me a sound piece of advice when taking buses. Always take a seat on the right-hand side of the bus and preferably as far back in the bus as possible. Bus collisions almost always affect those at the front and those situated on the left-hand side (i.e. the side facing the traffic). Look at the graphic images of the bus crash in Ecuador and you'll see his point.