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South American leaders pull away
In the space of one round Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay have pulled away from the cluster of teams behind them to confirm their status as clear South American leaders. Chile is also in contention sitting in fourth but will rue the missed chances against Colombia.
The eighth round began on Saturday with Argentina returning to the site where they were runners up in the South American championship prior to the olympics. And they got a great start, Mauro Rosales netting on 13 minutes. Peru fought hard and they remained at a stalemate until the break when flashes of red were seen. Peru's Flavio Maestri and Argentina's Cristian Gonzalez were sent off just prior to the half time whistle making the match 10 on 10. After the break Peru came out with intent and leveled on 61 minutes with a Jorge Soto goal. However Argentina pulled ahead again four minutes later through Fabricio Coloccini. The result was sealed just before the final whistle. Juan Sorin putting the final nail in the coffin.
Sunday saw the rest of the CONMEBOL qualifiers take place. Brazil were looking to retake their top spot after Argentina's victory and started perfectly, ronaldo latching onto a deep cross to score in the opening minute. Ronaldinho put a penalty in on 12 minutes before Adriano made it 3-0 before the break. Bolivia pulled one back and while it was initially credited to Edmilson as an own goal, replays have shown, and it is officially now credited to, Luis Christaldo. The goal coming on 48 minutes. Brazil held on to win 3-1.
Paraguay had a tough task in early surprise packet venezuela. However Venezuela's form has dropped recently and Paraguay found a 1-0 victory a satisfactory result. Carlos Gamarra scored in the 52nd minute.
Uruguay wanted to get themselves out of second last place and it seems thier continental championship form carried through to world cup qualifiers. They faced Ecuador and Carlos Bueno was the man who found the net for Uruguay. The 58th minute goal enough to drag them out of 9th place and into a position to challenge for an automatic world cup place or the playoff position.
Chile and Colombia played in the final match of the night with both teams needing all three points for any effective change to be made in the standings. Unfortuantly for both sides, red was seen more often than goals as Chile's Claudio Maldonado and Colombia's John Viafara were sent off in the 17th minute thanks largely to the bad temper of the players. Rodrigo Perez of Chile and Jairo Patino of Colombia received the same fate on 72 minutes. However neither side could break the deadlock and the only significant outcome from the match is the one that awaits the four players sent from the field. The draw only serving to maintain positions on the table while leaving the door open for upto 4 teams to move into the fourth place position.
So after eight rounds the table is as follows (goal difference in brackets):
Brazil - 16 pts (+6)
Argentina - 15 pts (+7)
Paraguay - 14 pts (+2)
Chile - 12 pts (+2)
Ecuador - 10 pts (+0)
Venezuela - 10 pts (-2)
Uruguay - 10 pts (-6)
Peru - 9 pts (+0)
Colombia - 8 pts (+0)
Bolivia - 6 pts (-9)
7 September, 2004 |
