Home sides dominate in South America - Fifa.com

THE DAY REPLAYED – There were four home wins out of four as the CONMEBOL qualifying competition for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014™ began on a rainy Friday across South America.

FIFA.com has the details on comfortable opening victories for Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru.

Match of the day
Uruguay 4-2 Bolivia
Goals: Luis Suarez 4, Diego Lugano 26 and 72, Edinson Cavani 35 (Uruguay); Rudy Cardozo 18, Marcelo Martins 86 pen (Bolivia)

The goals and the chances flowed as Uruguay and Bolivia played out the day’s most entertaining game in wet conditions in Montevideo. Fourth in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, La Celeste racked up their third consecutive big home victory over a side ranked 77 places below them thanks to the attacking prowess of Suarez and Cavani and an unusually prolific goalscoring contribution from Lugano. The captain received the loudest cheers of the day from the Centenario faithful as Bolivia’s long search for a win on Uruguayan soil continued.

Elsewhere
Real Madrid duo Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain showed the depth of their understanding as Alejandro Sabella began his reign as Argentina coach with a commanding 4-1 defeat of Chile. Sporting the captain’s armband, Lionel Messi was also in fine form, scoring his first international goal in 16 games, a drought stretching back two years and seven months. La Roja, who have never won on the other side of the Andes, have now gone five games without winning, a record they will need to end when Peru come visiting on Tuesday.  

Third at the recent Copa America, the Peruvians continued their renaissance under Sergio Markarian with an excellent 2-0 defeat of Francisco Arce’s Paraguay, both goals coming from Paolo Guerrero. Under the cosh from the start in Lima, La Albirroja were saved from an even heavier defeat by Diego Barreto’s fine performance between the posts, as the Peruvians tuned up for their trip to Santiago with a confidence-boosting win.

Ecuador recorded a 2-0 triumph of their own against Venezuela, who had spent a month preparing for the altitude of Quito but had no answer to Luis Antonio Valencia’s galloping runs up the right. The on-song Manchester United wide man sent in pinpoint first-half crosses to allow Jaime Ayovi and Cristian Benitez to head Reinaldo Rueda’s side to victory and avenge last July’s Copa America loss to La Vinotinto.

Player of the day
Gonzalo Higuain (ARG)
Fresh from scoring a Spanish league hat-trick for Real Madrid against Espanyol, the 23-year-old striker put Chile to the sword with another triple, one of the goals coming from his right foot and the other two with his left. “I’m happy but I can’t afford to relax. I need to keep it going,” said the insatiable Higuain, who also set up Messi for La Albiceleste’s second goal of the day.

The stat
15: The number of FIFA World Cup qualifiers Paolo Guerrero has now played for Peru. Prior to hitting a match-winning brace against La Albirroja, the Hamburg striker had only scored two goals in those games and featured in one win.

What they said
“It’s a big blow for us. We didn’t just lose to Argentina today, but to a lot a Chilean media outlets who’ve been laying into us. This defeat will make a lot of people happy.”
Chile coach Claudio Borghi responds to the nation’s media after his side’s 4-1 loss to Argentina.

Results (Friday 7 October)
Uruguay 4-2 Bolivia
Ecuador 2-0 Venezuela
Argentina 4-1 Chile
Peru 2-0 Paraguay
No game: Colombia

South American qualifiers in numbers - Fifa.com

 

As fans the world over eagerly await the start of the South American qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ this weekend, FIFA.com whets your appetite with some intriguing stats from the region’s previous preliminary competitions.

Want to discover the top scorer in the history of the South American qualifiers? Think you know the teams with the competition’s best and worst records? You will find the answers to these and more teasing questions as we set the scene for the Brazil 2014 qualifiers with 14 stats from one of the most fiercely contested competitions in international football.

 The number of South American teams never to have graced the finals of a FIFA World Cup. That distinction belongs to Venezuela who, after an impressive fourth-place finish at the recent Copa America, will be keen to put that right when qualifying gets underway this Friday.

 The number of goals-per-game averaged by Brazil in the history of the qualifiers. O Seleção, who as 2014 hosts will not contest this preliminary competition, have also scored the most goals (199 in 92 games) and conceded the fewest (59, an average of 0.64 per game).

 This preliminary competition will be the fifth in succession to adopt a single-group, home-and-away league format. Curiously, the order of games will be the same as that used in the four previous single-group editions. The last qualifying tournament to use the multiple-group format was that prior to USA 1994, when the nine competing teams were split into two sections. Chile, being suspended at the time, took no part in that competition.

 The most consecutive wins in the history of the South American qualifiers, achieved by Brazil between 1977 and 1985. The sequence came to an end on 23 June that year when Paraguay held the five-time world champions 1-1 away from home. Eight was also the number of goals scored in the tournament’s biggest win – Brazil’s 8-0 rout of Bolivia on 14 July 1977 in a final-round game.

 The most goals scored in a South American qualifying fixture. The feat has been achieved on three occasions: in 6-3 wins for Argentina over Ecuador (1960) and Peru over Venezuela (1965), as well as in Chile’s 7-2 rout of Colombia, also in 1965. 

The number of qualifying competitions contested by Paraguay, the most of any South American side.

 The number of goals scored by the Argentinian Hernan Crespo, making him the competition’s leading marksman. The former River Plate prodigy, who netted against every side bar Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in the preliminary competition, is closely followed in the standings by former Chilean strikers Marcelo Salas (18) and Ivan Zamorano (17).

 The number of successive games in which Argentina managed to score. The sequence, which represents a competition record, was set between 1997 and 2004 and came to an end on 6 June that year with the Albiceleste’s scoreless draw against Paraguay in Buenos Aires.

 The most consecutive games a team has gone unbeaten. The record was set by Brazil between 1954 and 1993 and finally came to an end with a 2-0 defeat against Bolivia in La Paz.

 The total number of draws Colombia have recorded in this competition, more than any other side. To date Los Cafeteros have graced three FIFA World Cup finals but have yet to make an impact on the world stage. In their last appearance, at France 1998, they bowed out after the first round.

 The number of qualifying wins enjoyed by Argentina, the most of any of the region’s sides. La Albiceleste have qualified for the final phase of the last ten FIFA World Cups. The last time they failed to reach world football’s showpiece event was ahead of Mexico 1970, when Peru secured top spot in their group and a place at the finals with a 2-2 draw in Buenos Aires.

 The numbers of defeats suffered by Venezuela, making them the most vanquished team in the competition’s history. La Vinotinto’s record has been improving steadily in recent editions, however, and in the race for South Africa 2010 they finished just two points behind Uruguay, who took the play-off berth.

 The total number of games played by Paraguay. La Albirroja have contested more qualifying fixtures than any other side and have reached the finals of the last four FIFA World Cups.

 The number of qualifying fixtures played to date, including those contested by CONMEBOL sides in intercontinental play-offs.

 The number of goals scored to date in the region’s qualifying fixtures. Since the current qualifying format has been in place, the preliminary competition for Germany 2006 has produced the most goals, 235, compared to 232 ahead of Korea/Japan 2002 and South Africa 2010. The qualifiers for France 1998, in which Brazil were not required to participate as defending champions, produced the fewest strikes, 184.

What are your memories of South Africa 2010? -Fifa.com

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