World Cup Qualifying

Looks like South America's marathon 18 game World Cup qualifying will have the identical schedule which existed for both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. The dates have not yet been set but these are the matchups (home team listed first):

PRIMERA RUEDA

1ª. Fecha

Perú-Paraguay, Colombia-Brasil, Ecuador-Venezuela, Uruguay-Bolivia y Argentina-Chile.

2ª. Fecha

Paraguay-Uruguay, Brasil-Ecuador, Bolivia-Colombia, Venezuela-Argentina y Colombia-Venezuela.

3ª. Fecha

Paraguay-Ecuador, Uruguay-Chile, Perú-Brasil, Argentina-Bolivia, Colombia-Venezuela.

4ª. Fecha

Venezuela-Bolivia, Brasil-Uruguay, Ecuador-Perú, Chile-Paraguay, Colombia-Argentina.

5ª. Fecha

Uruguay-Venezuela, Paraguay-Brasil, Bolivia-Chile, Argentina-Ecuador, Perú-Colombia.

6ª. Fecha

Ecuador-Colombia, Venezuela-Chile, Uruguay-Perú, Brasil-Argentina, Bolivia-Paraguay.

7ª. Fecha

Chile-Brasil, Colombia-Uruguay, Ecuador-Bolivia, Argentina-Paraguay, Perú-Venezuela.

8ª. Fecha

Paraguay-Venezuela, Chile-Colombia, Uruguay-Ecuador, Perú-Argentina, Brasil-Bolivia.

9ª. Fecha

Colombia-Paraguay, Bolivia-Perú, Ecuador-Chile, Venezuela-Brasil, Argentina-Uruguay.

SEGUNDA RUEDA

10ª. Fecha

Paraguay-Perú, Brasil-Colombia, Bolivia-Uruguay, Venezuela-Ecuador y Chile-Argentina.

11ª. Fecha

Ecuador-Brasil, Argentina-Venezuela, Perú-Chile, Uruguay-Paraguay, Colombia-Bolivia.

12ª. Fecha

Ecuador-Paraguay, Venezuela-Colombia, Chile-Uruguay, Bolivia-Argentina, Brasil Perú.

13ª. Fecha

Paraguay-Chile, Perú-Ecuador, Bolivia-Venezuela, Uruguay-Brasil y Argentina-Colombia.

14ª. Fecha

Venezuela-Uruguay, Chile-Bolivia, Ecuador-Argentina, Colombia-Perú, Brasil-Paraguay.

15ª. Fecha

Chile-Venezuela, Perú-Uruguay, Paraguay-Bolivia, Colombia-Ecuador, Argentina-Brasil.

16ª. Fecha

Uruguay-Colombia, Brasil-Chile, Bolivia-Ecuador-Paraguay-Argentina, Venezuela-Perú.

17ª. Fecha

Argentina-Perú, Bolivia-Brasil, Ecuador-Uruguay, Colombia-Chile, Venezuela-Paraguay.

18ª. Fecha

Uruguay-Argentina, Brasil-Venezuela, Paraguay-Colombia, Chile-Ecuador, Perú-Bolivia.

In order to calm the waters with the European clubs where so many of South America's national teamers now play, these games will be split up into 9 weeks of 2 games per week scheduled during the FIFA calendar, likely beginning this September and going through fall 2009. In other words during each FIFA reserved week, the teams will play Saturday-Wednesday or vice versa which will make this a very testing group of games. A marathon qualifying campaign as Martin described it is correct.

Since the order of games will be identical to the two previous World Cup qualifiers, as a colombiano I am hoping we won't see an identical result. Curiously, in each of the two previous qualifiers with this same schedule of games, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay qualified directly for the World Cup and Uruguay finished fifth and went into a playoff! And Colombia each time finished just behind Uruguay in sixth barely missing out. This needs to change now!

Week 1 begins this Saturday with these games, home team listed first,

Perú-Paraguay, Colombia-Brasil, Ecuador-Venezuela, Uruguay-Bolivia y Argentina-Chile.

All but Colombia-Brasil (Sunday) will be played on Saturday. With former Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa in charge of Chile I think the Argentina-Chile game looks like the most fascinating game of the round but Colombia-Brasil is another game which should be interesting. Colombia are playing in altitude in Bogota which is something that Brasil never likes to do. But Colombia's team will mostly be foreign based so it's own players won't be that accustomed to playing at altitude either. So you wonder how much of an advantage that really will be?

I always enjoy watching South American World Cup qualifying but usually ahve to wait to catch the tape delayed broadcasts of the games.

cafetero, that is an interesting point you brought up about Colombia losing the advantage of playing at altitude now that they have more players in foreign leagues. I guess the same would apply to Ecuador too. But psychologically it still has to help them as opponents don't enjoy coming to play in Bogota, Quito or La Paz.

But the psychological effect only works temporarily and if your own players aren't adjusted to the altitude either because they are playing overseas then it isn't an advantage at all playing up in the mountains.

That is an excellent point you bring up cafetero and is something I too had been thinking about since Ecuador is in the same boat as Colombia now with so many of it's players overseas and not playing regularly at altitude. In the past few qualifiers, Ecuador was able to have it's mostly home based national team train in Quito's high elevation and would just add a couple of foreign based players at the last minute. It will be quite interesting to see if the high altitude ends up providing as much of a home field advantage as it has done in the past.

I hadn't thought about the fact that Ecuador and Colombia may not have the home field advantage many thought by playing in altitude now that more of their players are in foreign leagues. I guess even Bolivia has that problem now too although they don't have as many players playing outside of Bolivia as Ecuador and Colombia have out of their own countries. This will be a very interesting trend to follow in these qualifiers to see if these high altitude countries can maintain their advantage playing in the clouds.

Uruguay are going with an attacking lineup versus Bolivia and are planning on using 3 forwards, Luis Suarez, Sebastian Abreu and Diego Forlan. Centerback Diego Lugano will miss this game because he was sent off in the Copa America consolation game against Mexico but Uruguay have enough central defenders to cover his absence. I have a sneaking suspicion that Uruguay are going to do quite well in these qualifiers.

Brazil's team met yesterday to begin practice at the usual pre-game site of Granja Comary. Robinho supposedly is out of shape and is also nursing a bad ankle.

Dunga said fitness may be the determining factor for the starting lineup.

Today they lined up with:

Júlio César; Maicon, Lúcio, Juan, Gilberto; Gilberto Silva, Mineiro, Elano, Ronaldinho Gaúcho; Kaká, Vagner Love

Robinho is likely to take Elano or even VL's spot when he gets back to practice in today's afternoon session.

On the road at Colombia I think it might be a good idea for Brazil to play wth the lineup ombak has provided. Crowd Colombia out in midfield and use Ronaldinho, Kaka and Vagner Love to hit them on the counter attack. Robinho could be used as a 2nd half substitute. Sometimes you need to be pragmatic on the road in a World Cup qualifier and because of that I think Dunga is ideally situated to lead Brazil during these qualifiers.

It looks like Argentina will use this lineup against Chile: Abbondanzieri; Zanetti, Demichelis, Milito, Heinze; M. Rodriguez, mascherano, Cambiasso; Riquelme; Messi, Tevez.

While I'd prefer using Crespo at center forward he wasn't selected by Basile because he's not seeing much playing time with Inter. Yet Riquelme who hasn't had any playing time with Villarreal was picked. Basile justifies it by saying Riquelme is a distinct player in his system and there isn't a ready made replacement for him. I'd argue that no matter how skilled Tevez and Aguero are neither of them can provide the power and aerial ability that Crespo can.

I'm really curious as to how Marcelo Bielsa will approach this game with Chile. His style ordinarily is not to sit back and be pragmatic. That I think means Chile could either pull off a major surprise or will get hammered. I don't see much middle ground with Bielsa's style of play.

I like the Argentina lineup being floated around. It provides a good balance between defense and attack. I know many are questioning the naming of Riquelme to the team but his style is what is needed to supply Messi and Tevez in attack. Chile will try and press him but with Cambiasso and Rodriguez also in midfield there are players who have the ability to help out and both Messi and Tevez are not shy about dropping deep to help retrieve the ball.

Peru lost Paolo Guerrero, their best player from the Copa America through injury, and he'll miss both the Paraguay and Chile games this week. Flavio Maestri, I didn't know he was still playing, was named to replace Guerrero. That is a big loss for Peru.

I agree with enganche, Brasil would be wise to not start Robinho in this game and add an extra midfielder instead and try and press Colombia and take the ball away from them. You do that and Colombia are much less effective as they don't like to counter attack.

From what I've been reading Paraguay will start Haedo Valdez and Cabañas at forward with Cardozo being the option off the bench. They didn't select Paredes for these next two games though and I don't know why. Paraguay didn't look good pre Copa America then went on a great run until they had their keeper Villar sent off early in the quarterfinals versus Mexico. Since Copa America again they aren't playing that well in friendlies but this is a team who once the games really mean something are almost always hard to handle. I'd beware of them.

Peru not only will be without Guerrero but Farfan, who is expected to play, is not 100% so the Peruvians are missing their two top attackers. Claudio Pizarro will really have to step up now if they are to have any chance for a victory in their opener.

You are right rosarino Paraguay, and I'd add Ecuador too, are teams who don't often play well in friendlies but in World Cup qualifying they have always been tough opponents and they've backed that up by qualifying in Paraguay's case for the last 3 World Cups and Ecuador for the last 2.

Peru has a new coach and a lot of injury worries, this may be a good time for Paraguay to be playing them even if it will be in Lima. Brazil have continued using the lineup ombak posted here as Robinho doesn't seem ready to go on Sunday versus Colombia. Using Vagner Love at forward gives Brazil not only speed on the break bu a mobile player who'll drift out wide to give Kaka, Ronaldinho Gaucho and Elano space to move forward. Colombia seem to have their lineup set for the game with the only doubt whether Walter Moreno or Cristian Zapata will be the centerback paired with Aquivaldo Mosquera. But they'll give Renteria and Falcao Garcia the chance to be the forwards against Brazil and that is a pair of in form players.

Ecuador will start Javier Klimowicz in goal as their other naturalized Argentinian born goalie Marcelo Elizaga is injured. Oscar Bagui will be at left back and Cristian Lara in midfield, otherwise it is the same lineup Ecuador have used recently with the Carlos Tenorio-Cristian Benitez forward line looking like one which can cause a lot of danger.

Argentina-Chile looks like one of the best games of this round and not just because of the Marcelo Bielsa factor. But Chile do look seem like a renewed team under their new coach and their wing play could give Argentina trouble. And of course everyone is interested to see if Basile's gamble of playing Riquelme will pay off. Personally I think it is a major risk as Riquelme is the type of player who needs regular action in order to be effective.

Bolivia impressed me at Copa America and look to be rebuilding well but Uruguay are a good team and even if Recoba wasn't selected and Lugano si suspended, this team has a lot of ways to beat you. But as always their onfield discipline is the concern with them.

If the Copa America is a judge of these teams general form now and I think it is a pretty good measuring stick then Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela, who have been the three bottom teams in each of the previous two eliminatorias, have all improved. Chile with Bielsa's arrival has too. If we say it is a given Brazil and Argentina will qualify, then the battle for the remaining two automatic spots and the 5th place playoff berth should be very closely contested. It always has been closely fought and not determined to the final day but to me, and I'd like to hear the opinions of those who follow South American futbol even closer than I, there seems more parity below the big two of Brazil and Argentina. That should make for a competitive qualifying stage.

Playing 18 games some of these teams will fall out of form during the course of these qualifiers. Teams like Peru, Venezuela or Bolivia who have some good players but lack depth will really have a problem under this format of playing a round robin. They'll have their moments but won't be able to keep up their level over the 18 games. Even Argentina and Brazil will have some ups and downs, as will the other countries but Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia will have more because of their thin benches.

These were Saturday's results:

Uruguay 5-0 Bolivia
Argentina 2-0 Chile
Ecuador 0-1 Venezuela
Peru 0-0 Paraguay

I watched both the Uruguay and Argentina wins and saw highlights of the other two games. Uruguay looked very good and came out from the first minute with the intention to bury Bolivia. Good ball movement and speed from Uruguay but Bolivia looked like a shadow of the team who played pretty well in Copa America. It was as if they were stunned by how much energy Uruguay had at the beginning of the game. Luis Suarez looks like a good addition to Uruguay's team, Forlan does his usual running and scored a goal on a nice volley, Abreu is tough to handle in the air and opportunistic in front of goal but it was in midfield where I thought Uruguay really looked good. Rodriguez is, as he showed in Copa America, a player on the rise and he is the motor of the team but both Pablo Garcia and Diego Perez owned the center of the field and found time to set up their attackers. A very good win for Uruguay.

Argentina won easily over Chile behind Riquelme's ability off of free kicks. Two golazos by him in the first half followed by Cristian Alarez' expulsion for Chile sealed the outcome of this game. Messi started on the right then switched left to help stop Chile's attacks down that side and he did well at that and combined well at times with Riquelme and Cambiasso but he also doesn't seem to click with Tevez. When Aguero came on for Tevez later in the game, the understanding between them seemed better to me. Argentina had the ball and dominated the match but apart from Riquelme's free kcks they didn't create all that much danger even against 10 Chileans and that concerns me especially in light of the Copa America Final. I still insist Crespo is needed on this team.

Venezuela with the surprise so far of qualifying by winning 1-0 in Quito. Rojas scored an amazing goal from 40+ meters out on a free kick which slightly deflected off the wall and fooled Ecuador's goalie. Great shot but one which probably should have been saved. Again Ecuador let down by poor goalkeeping. And apparently poor finishing as I saw replays of numerous chances they missed. And maybe the thoery postulated here about having many players not used to playing in altitude now also contributed to this score but it was a great win for Venezuela before their game at home on Tuesday against Argentina while it doesn't get any easier for Ecuador, they next play at Brazil!

Peru and Paraguay played a lively game from reports I read but neither team could break through. Some good stops from goalies Butron (Peru) and Villar (Paraguay) and some missed finishing led to the stalemate. Obviously a better result for visiting Paraguay.