Uruguay is almost certain to be in Brazil next year after having trashed Jordan 0-5 in Amman in the first leg of their play-off match. Next week's match in Montevideo is now just a formality where the Uruguayans will nevertheless be forced to entertain a sold-out stadium, so it seem likely Jordan are up for another beating.
Edison Cavani, who scored a beautiful fifth goal for Uruguay, was only too nice to Jordan when he said that "it looked like it was easy, but it was not" (he even added that "we still have a difficult match ahead of us").
Of course it was easy, because let us face it, Asian football is many light years away from South American football, and there is not a single of the ten South American sides that would not have defeated the fourth best Asian side to make it to the World Cup. That is what makes it so grotesque when some people talk about Asia and Africa deserving to get more spots in the World Cup, mostly instead of Europe, but certainly also instead of South America.
Really? That would mean that number four in Asia, Jordan, would have qualified, but we would have missed Uruguay!?
Any right-minded football fan (even Jordanian football fans) have to agree that the World Cup would only be weaker and more boring with teams like Jordan instead of Uruguay, and the humongous difference in quality between the sides was only much too obvious today.
I am not saying it will always be like that. Perhaps one day number four in Asia will be as good as number five (or six if we count Brazil) in South America. But frankly, I do not believe I will see this happen for many decades!
Congratulations to Uruguay! Cannot wait to see them in Brazil! (let us not forget what happened last time Uruguay played a World Cup in Brazil....).
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