South American Qualifying Games

Starting in October, the Long Process of Qualifying for South Africa

Aug 9, 2007

In a two year marathon beginning this October, South America's finest footballers play for a place at the World Cup Finals in South Africa 2010.

It seems ridiculous that a qualifying process could take so long, but the likes of Crespo, Ronaldinho, Santa Cruz, Pizarro and other European based players will have to accept it and travel vast distances to make the games, enraging club coaches and owners alike and promising to take the Club vs. Country debate to new levels.

The High Altitude Issue

The other issue that will undoubtedly come to the fore is that of international games at high altitudes. It has long been suspected that FIFA President Sepp Blatter has favoured the traditional powerhouses of South American football such as Brazil and Argentina and his announcement in May that games above 2500m could no longer be held, did little to quash such rumours in Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.

Since the decree was made Blatter’s position has been weakened with the uproar in the aforementioned countries and all nations can play in their desired locations…including the Condor’s Nest in La Paz. Bolivia will no doubt be seeking to build on their three appearances in the finals using the altitude to upset teams from low levels.

The Format

Conmebol (the South American Football Governing Body) has decided to stick with the long format of 18 rounds and a home and away fixture featuring all ten teams. Two games will be played in quick succession to make minimize the amount of time overseas players will have to spend travelling. There was talk of splitting the qualifying process into two leagues but this idea has been set aside for the time being. The only change from previous years is that the fifth placed South American team will meet a team from Concacaf (Caribbean, Central and North American Governing Body) and no longer from Oceania in a two legged play off final.

Historic Rivalries

In total 78 nations have qualified for the World Cup, including every South American country aside from Venezuela. However, with the Copa America just finished and with their best ever showing they will be hoping to cause some upsets. As usual there has been a period of reshuffling and reorganising in each camp. Peru, who last qualified in 1982, have appointed former player Jose Guillermo “chemo” del Solar as their new coach and Colombian coach Jorge Luis Pinto has managed to hold on to his job despite that nation’s pitiful showing in the Copa America. Ecuador has just won the Pan-American Games tournament to secure their first international title.

The games are as follows

Round 1 - Oct 13 2007

Argentina – Chile

Colombia – Brazil

Ecuador – Venezuela

Peru – Paraguay

Uruguay – Bolivia

Round 2 - Oct 17 2007

Bolivia – Colombia

Brazil – Ecuador

Chile – Peru

Paraguay – Uruguay

Venezuela – Argentina

Round 3 - Nov 17 2007

Argentina – Bolivia

Colombia – Venezuela

Paraguay – Ecuador

Peru – Brazil

Uruguay – Chile

Round 4 - Nov 21 2007

Brazil – Uruguay

Chile – Paraguay

Colombia – Argentina

Ecuador – Peru

Venezuela – Bolivia

See How The Teams Stand After Four RoundsRound 5 - June 14 2008

Write-up for the next batch of games

Argentina – Ecuador

Bolivia – Chile

Paraguay – Brazil

Peru – Colombia

Uruguay – Venezuela

Round 6 - June 18 2008

Bolivia – Paraguay

Brazil – Argentina

Ecuador – Colombia

Uruguay – Peru

Venezuela - Chile

Round 7 - Sept 6 2008

Argentina – Paraguay

Chile – Brazil

Colombia – Uruguay

Ecuador – Bolivia

Peru – Venezuela

Round 8 - Sept 10 2008

Brazil – Bolivia

Chile – Colombia

Paraguay – Venezuela

Peru – Argentina

Uruguay – Ecuador

Round 9 - Oct 11 2008

Argentina – Uruguay

Bolivia – Peru

Colombia – Paraguay

Ecuador – Chile

Venezuela – Brazil

Round 10 - Oct 15 2008

Chile – Argentina

Bolivia - Uruguay

Brazil – Colombia

Paraguay – Peru

Venezuela - Ecuador

Round 11 - Mar 28 2009

Colombia – Bolivia

Argentina – Venezuela

Ecuador – Brazil

Peru – Chile

Uruguay – Paraguay

Round 12 - April 1 2009

Bolivia – Argentina

Venezuela – Colombia

Ecuador – Paraguay

Brazil – Peru

Chile – Uruguay

Round 13 - June 6 2009

Argentina – Colombia

Bolivia – Venezuela

Paraguay – Chile

Peru – Ecuador

Uruguay – Brazil

Round 14 - Jun 10 2009

Brazil - Paraguay

Chile – Bolivia

Colombia – Peru

Ecuador – Argentina

Venezuela – Uruguay

Round 15 - Sept 5 2009

Argentina – Brazil

Chile – Venezuela

Colombia – Ecuador

Paraguay – Bolivia

Peru – Uruguay

Round 16 - Sept 9 2009

Bolivia – Ecuador

Brazil – Chile

Paraguay – Argentina

Uruguay – Colombia

Venezuela – Peru

Round 17 - Oct 10 2009

Argentina – Peru

Bolivia – Brazil

Colombia – Chile

Ecuador – Uruguay

Venezuela – Paraguay

Round 18 - Oct 14 2009

Brazil – Venezuela

Chile – Ecuador

Paraguay – Colombia

Peru – Bolivia

Uruguay – Argentina

The copyright of the article South American Qualifying Games in International Soccer is owned by Richard McColl. Permission to republish South American Qualifying Games in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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Comments

May 1, 2008 1:37 AM

Guest :

Can someone please tell me where the Brazil – Colombia game is going to be played. My husband and I are coming from NZ to Brazil to watch the game but having incredible difficulty finding where it is played. Does anyone know? Thanks

May 20, 2008 8:45 AM

Richard McColl :

It is highly unlikely that they will have cemented a place for this game in October. If I were to make a guess and take a gamble then I would say that it would be played in the Maracana...but the national team does travel about a bit. You'll need to wait until at least August to find out.

2 Comments