2010 Conmebol Qualifying Preview September 2009
South America’s Teams Clash on the Road to South Africa 2010
Aug 18, 2009
With Brazil and Chile defining the group there is set to be a mad skirmish for the remaining two secure places for South Africa 2010. Safe money is on Paraguay, whose run of form in competitive games has been abysmal (W1 D1 L3 Conceded 7 Scored 3), but who have three out of their four remaining games at home.
Argentina in a Slump?
And what of Argentina? Their run of form under rookie national coach Diego Maradona has been one of peaks and troughs (W2 D0 L3 Conceded 9 Scored 6) most notably the 6-1 drubbing in the oxygen-thin La Paz at the hands of Bolivia. The World Cup would not be the World Cup without Argentina, but nothing at this stage can be taken for granted especially with tough games against quality and stubborn opponents, Brazil and Paraguay coming up.
So, with 14 games played, after September 2009 there are only two games remaining for all teams. The whole Conmebol league will be defined by mid October 2009.
Conmebol Games September 5
Peru v Uruguay (Lima)
Colombia v Ecuador (Medellin)
Paraguay v Bolivia (Asunción)
Argentina v Brazil (Rosario)
Chile v Venezuela (Santiago)
Conmebol Games September 9
Paraguay v Argentina (Asunción)
Bolivia v Ecuador (La Paz)
Uruguay v Colombia (Montevideo)
Venezuela v Peru (Puerto de la Cruz)
Brazil v Chile (Salvador)
The Fight for 4th and 5th Places
Assuming that Argentina can quell the flood of goals against them and sure up their defence to claim the fourth automatic World Cup qualifying place, then the real blood and guts battles will be for the remaining 5th spot. Obviously 4th place is an automatic berth in South Africa while the 5th placed team will go into a home and away playoff versus a team from the Concacaf (Caribbean, North and Central America).
Ecuador – 3rd Straight World Cup Finals?
The Ecuadorian team have been making handsome progress in recent years, with an impressive home record and with what looks like an easy away game in Medellin versus Colombia; the Ecuadorians will feel confident of maximum points here. It is worth noting though, that Ecuador has three of their final four games away from home.
Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela, a fight to the death
On points any one of these teams can go through but, they will all be looking above them on the leader board and be watching keenly to see where Ecuador and Argentina can drop points. Realistically, Uruguay will not be happy to be playing their penultimate game in the altitude of Quito nor their last game in Montevideo against Argentina. The truth is that anything can happen especially if Colombia find a goal-scorer in their midst or if Venezuela continue their startling improvement.
Peru and Bolivia Fail to Qualify
Barring a miraculous return to form and replenishing of team spirit and national pride neither of these two nations will be making it to South Africa. Despite Bolivia maintaining the high altitude advantage they do not have enough skill on the pitch to bring games their way. Peru is a technically gifted team, but bizarrely cannot manage to harness their talent on the international stage.
