Shocking is a good word to describe how the World Cup qualifiers in South America started. From historic victories to close calls, here are the biggest winners and losers in South America during the first round of qualifying games for Russia 2018.
Winners:
Ecuador
Happy for this result. We neep to keep united to get more victories for our country. Thank you all. See you pic.twitter.com/JltCNhxO3o
— Antonio Valencia (@anto_v25) October 9, 2015Antonio Valencia and his crew made history in their first game, defeating Argentina 2-0. Behind an amazing performance by the Manchester United winger, Ecuador stunned Argentina in Buenos Aires for the first time ever.
Just looking at the stats sheet, it seemed like Argentina controlled the game and were unlucky to lose their debut in the campaign towards 2018. That is far from the truth.
The Argentinians started the match imposing their tempo on the opposition and creating trouble for goalkeeper Alexandre Dominguez. However, their dominance disappeared after 20 minutes of play, when Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero was carried out the pitch with a hamstring injury.
Without Aguero, Argentina struggled to create goal scoring opportunities, while the Equadorians took advantage of their strongest asset — the counterattack.
It took Valencia two minutes to lift his team to the historic victory. The winger forced the corner that created Erazo’s opening goal.
A minute later, Valencia outran left-back Emmanuel Mas and assisted Felipe Caicedo.
During their second match, Ecuador struggled to figure out how to beat Bolivia in a soaked pitch. But with another pair of late goals, this time from Miller Bolanos and Caicedo again, Ecuador sent La Verde to the bottom of the standings and maintained its so-far perfect campaign.
Next up for Ecuador is a clash with first place at stake against a red-hot Uruguay squad.
Uruguay
“Todos jugamos por el bien de la camiseta”, comentó Godín después de la victoria de Uruguay. http://t.co/DLwcz5mp6X pic.twitter.com/MIe5h9AZnB
— Montevideo Portal (@portalmvd) October 8, 2015The absence of La Celeste’s two biggest stars, Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, didn't seem to bother Oscar Tabarez’s team.
With another historic win to start the campaign, Uruguay defeated Bolivia for the first time ever in La Paz.
Los Verdes had possession of the ball 68 percent of the time and out-shot La Celeste 21 to 12. But, in the end, it was the Uruguayans’ efficiency that decided the match.
Taking advantage of two errors by Bolivian goalkeeper Daniel Vaca, Martin Caceres and Diego Godin scored one each to power Uruguay to the historic win.
Uruguay’s second challenge was another tough one, as they hosted Jose Pekerman’s Colombia. Los Cafeteros were hot in the wake of a 2-0 win over Peru and had all the ingredients to surprise the Uruguayans in Montevideo.
Luckily for Tabarez and his men, their efficiency in front of the net proved to be the difference once again.
They only had the ball 34 percent of the time, but La Celeste made David Ospina pay almost every time they got in front of him, first a header from Diego Godin, followed by a cheeky overhead shot by Diego Rolan and finally with a clinical finish from the touchline by Abel Hernandez.
With the 3-0 win over Los Cafeteros, Uruguay earned the top spot on the standings of the race to Russia 2018. If it wasn’t for Ecuador’s stunning win over Argentina, La Celeste would also be top-dog in this ranking.
Chile
Doubles to Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas help Chile to a 4-3 win over Peru in World Cup 2018 qualifying pic.twitter.com/wt85YGwuD6
— FOX SPORTS News (@FOXSportsNews) October 14, 2015Winning the Copa America at home was a wake-up call to the world. Now the Chileans are proving they have what it takes to not only to make it to Russia, but to be a contender three years from now.
Alexis Sanchez and his teammates extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games after putting away both Brazil and Peru. It was 15 years in the making, but Chile finally managed to defeat Brazil. It wasn’t even close either.
The Brazilians, struggling to create anything without Neymar, only managed to place one shot on target against Claudio Bravo in the 90 minutes.
La Roja, on the other hand, made the most of its opportunities. Eduardo Vargas opened the way to Chile’s victory in the 72nd minute with a volley off a free-kick. The closing goal came when Arsenal’s Sanchez tapped the ball into an open net after a one-two with Arturo Vidal in the 90th minute.
Not only was it Chile’s first time defeating Brazil since 2000, this was also Brazil’s first ever defeat in a World Cup qualifier debut.
The second game for the Copa America champions was a goal bonanza against Peru. Again behind Sanchez and Vargas, Chile powered their way to a 4-3 win.
Sanchez opened the way with an early score in the 7th minute. La Roja’s joy didn’t last long, as Jefferson Farfan scored twice to give Peru the lead soon after.
Holding that lead became a tough task for Peru after Christian Cueva was sent-off 23 minutes into the first half. Chile made the most of the one-man advantage and took a 4-2 lead.
Paolo Guerreiro tried to bring his team back, but his injury-time goal in the second half wasn’t enough and Los Incas were handed their second loss of the competition.
La Roja will be back on the pitch in November, when they will have their hands full in matches against Colombia and Uruguay.
Losers:
Argentina
South America giants Argentina and Brazil lose #WCQ 2018 opening matches http://t.co/zb7IcXHaFm pic.twitter.com/bpwsptEWGz
— Sport360° (@Sport360) October 9, 2015They knew it would be tough to play without Lionel Messi, but probably nobody imagined the opening rounds would turn out as bad as they did for Gerardo Martino’s team.
With a loss to Ecuador and a goalless draw with Paraguay, the Messi-less Argentina recorded the country’s worst start in a qualifying campaign since the World Cup qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, in whichArgentina started its campaign in 1970 losing games 3-1 to Bolivia away and 1-0 to Peru at home.
Martino and his men will want to quickly turn the tide around, as, in that instance, La Albiceleste failed to qualify for the big stage. The next two games will be key if the Argentines hope to raise their stock and get back on the World Cup track.
First, they will be looking to gain some momentum in a tricky matchup against Brazil in Buenos Aires. Luckily for Martino, despite the rise of William, Dunga’s team still only looks decent at best. While, on the other hand, the Selecao will have their main man Neymar back from suspension.
After facing Brazil, Argentina will travel to Colombia to face Juan Cuadrado and Los Cafeteros. Like Brazil, Colombia came out of the first set of matches with a win, a loss, and a lot to prove.
Both will be tough matches. Yet, with the possibility of Messi and Aguero coming back, there might still be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Bolivia
The last time La Verde saw any World Cup action was back in 1994, so there isn’t really any hype for this team to surprise anyone and steal a qualifying spot to go to Russia.
Nonetheless, they did have a chance to beat Uruguay in La Paz, but failed to capitalize in the 21 times they shot at Fernando Muslera’s goal.
