Brazil were lucky to overcome an impressive Uruguay performance to win 2-1 in the Morumbi stadium.Uruguay had the better of the first-half chances, taking the lead through Sebastian Abreu after eight minutes and continuing to push on for the rest of the half. Cristian Rodriguez twice saw decent efforts just miss the target, amongst a flurry of opportunities for the away side.
Despite being on the back-foot for the majority of the first half, Brazil sneaked an equaliser just before half time with former Sao Paulo favourite Luis Fabiano firing home from Maicon's thorugh ball.
The equalising goal was not enough to appease the Morumbi crowd, who made their feelings clear as the half-time whistle blew and then went on to boo Ronaldinho and Robinho when the two players were substituted in the second half.
Brazil did improve after the break and despite Uruguay having some more decent attacks, it was Fabiano who proved to be the difference between the sides, adding his second after sixty-four minutes to seal a somewhat fortuitous victory for Brazil.
In the first game of the day, Ecuador brushed aside Peru, recording their first win of the qualifying campaign with a 5-1 victory under the stewardship of their temporary manager Sixto Vizuete.
Double strikes from Walter Avoyi and Edison Mendez, along with a single strike from Ivan Kaviedes gave Ecuador a commanding 5-0 lead, with a late Andres Mendoza goal the only consolation for a Peru side who had held Brazil in their previous game.
Paraguay continued their excellent start to the qualifying campaign, defeating Chile 3-0 in a high tempo match in Santiago. Salvador Cabanas gave Paraguay the lead after twenty-six minutes, with Paulo da Silva adding a second in first half stoppage time. Da Silva got his second of the night, ten minutes into the second half and Paraguay comfortably held out for a well deserved victory.
The result means that Paraguay now lead the group on ten points from four games, with Argentina one point behind on nine, and Brazil and Colombia a further point behind on eight. Bolivia prop up the group with only one point and are one of two teams yet to record a victory, alongside Peru.
There is now a large break before the next round of qualifiers, which will take place in June 2008.
2 comments:
It seems to me that Brazil are going through some sort of transition at the moment! Either that or the balance of power is shifting in South America. Paraguay top the group, Colombia defeated Argentina and Brazil are struggling to overcome supposed poorer opposition sides. It has set up the South American World Cup qualifying group to be more exciting than the European phase as the same old sides will no doubt progress there. Except maybe England??
Whilst it is good to see a closer group than was possibly expected after the first four games, it does have to be noted that there are still fourteen games for each nation to play over the next couple of years.
The South American qualifying is very much the cliched marathon rather than a sprint and there is no doubt in my mind that Argentina and Brazil will be the top two sides come the end of the group.
That said, Paraguay are looking very strong and the remaining two automatic places will probably be contested by them, Colombia, Uruguay and Chile.
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