Playing like World Champions

 Brazil playing at home to the World Champions, their Argentinean rivals, is always bound to be a dramatic match. The World Cup qualifier a couple of days ago was no exception to the rule, and we even feared that the match would be suspended due to the fan disturbances before the start of the match.

It was sad to watch, but also odd how Brazilian police and stadium authorities appear to have next to no control over fans who are mixed in the stand, and to what the Argentinean players (who admirably rushed to defend their fans) appeared overly excessive reactions by Brazilian police.

Argentina, led by Messi, appeared ready to abandon the match, but in the end the match went ahead. One had to wonder how this dramatic start would affect either side. At least for the case of Argentina, the entire situation seemed to energize them, and in what became a rather dirty match, they were clearly much smarter than the Brazilians.

Brazil pressed high, made a lot of small fouls, specially on a dynamic Rodrigo de Paul who, as Messi largely disappeared from the match, took over the midfield with a fighting spirit, but also with small provocations for the Brazilians, who fell into the trap, and got a lot of yellow cards. At the same time, Brazil's pressure did not shake the Argentinean defense, who played the ball coldly around.

It was an intelligent and fighting Argentine side who got the winning goal on a header by the veteran Nicolas Otamendi following a corner.

Despite losing to Uruguay, Argentina remain head of the table. In the meantime Brazil are in shambles, on sixth spot, behind Ecuador. Were it not because most sides qualify, Brazil would be in risk, but I still think they will qualify.

Bielsa's Uruguay and South American qualifiers

 The South American World Cup qualifiers are ongoing. Argentina's defending World Champions had not lost a game since their World Cup defeat to Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, they played Uruguay at home at la Bombonera (instead of the Monumental, where they usually play, since it had been reserved for one Ms. Taylor Swift). Uruguay has been doing well under their legendary Argentinean manager, Marcelo Bielsa, who has discarded some of the older players such as Luis Suarez and Cavani with success. Last round they defeated Brazil, and this time they defeated the World Champions.

It was a good match with chances for both sides, but in the end Uruguay's relentless high pressure paid off. The first goal was thanks to Matias Viña's high pressure and passing the ball to an open Ronald Araujo. Uruguay's second goal was a perfect counterattack following a Messi loss of the ball, and leaving Darwin Nuñez to outrun Otamendi.

Argentina remain in first spot, but Uruguay are second and under Bielsa appear a renewed side.

In the meantime Brazil are trailing. Having tied Venezuela and lost to Uruguay they needed something from Colombia, but got nothing despite an early lead by Gabriel Martinelli. They had more chances but Colombia pressed forward, and in the end got the victory through two Luis Diaz' headers in the second half. It has been something of a week for Liverpool's Luis Diaz, whose father was released by kidnappers only a couple of days before the match...

Brazil are now in fifth spot in qualification, behind Venezuela, something they are certainly not used to. That said, with more teams in the World Cup, they are still likely to qualify.

What is VAR for anyway?

In South America VAR is useless. I remember a Copa Libertadores match when they spent 10 minutes reviewing a goal to find an extremely thin offside in a largely irrelevant situation. And today in the qualifier between Uruguay and Peru we saw what appeared to be a goal that had crossed the line not reviewed by VAR.

Aren't these the exact situations when VAR should be used!?!?

Mind you, I support Colombia (who finally scored seven games later, to win 3-0 against Bolivia), and Uruguay's 1-0 victory over Peru means that Colombia can still qualify with one match left (they have to defeat Venezuela and hope that Peru does not defeat Paraguay). However, if the referee and VAR had not conspired, Peru would have had the chance for direct World Cup qualification instead of a playoff, and that is simply unfair for Peru!

Disgraceful refereeing, but I could be wrong. Judge yourself:

Colombia on the brink of elimination

 Colombia has had a weak World Cup qualification. After losing 6-1 to Ecuador, the new manager Reinaldo Rueda has struggled to make Colombia score goals, and before the match against Peru, Colombia had not scored a goal for five qualifiers in a row. So Colombia was under pressure at home against Peru, a team that has steadily improved and have chances of qualifying as well.

Under pressure to score Colombia started with an offensive side that counted the veterans Falcao, James and Juan Cuadrado, alongside Rafael Santos Borre and Luis Diaz. Indeed Colombia did all they had to do, except to score a goal: they attacked throughout the match, had possession and chances, but the ball simply refused to go in.

And we all know what happens in football. A defensive Peru scored on their only attempt on goal in the 85th minute when Edison Flores scored at the near post on a shot that David Ospina should have saved (and one may wonder if it was wise to let him play with an apparent injury; the only time he touched the ball in the match was when he had to pick it out of the goal).

Peru implausibly won, and came up on 4th position, ahead of Uruguay on fifth, while Colombia now lingers dangerously on 6th spot. Colombia have three matches left: Argentina (who qualified after their 1-2 away win to Chile), Bolivia and Venezuela, and have to start scoring goals if they are to retain hope of going to Qatar.

A most memorable non-match

Brazil-Argentina is one of the greatest clashes in the world, and today the two giants were to play a world cup qualifier today in Sao Paulo. The match started normally and I think all fans, including myself watching on TV, were hoping to watch a great football match, but instead it was a memorable show for its farcical scenes.

Five minutes into the match some officials ran onto the pitch and huge discussions erupted, which ended with the Argentine team walking off the pitch and the match suspended. The officials were apparently Brazilian health officials, who were there to deport four Argentine players, whom they alleged had breached Brazilian COVID-19 rules to enter Brazil. 

The four players are Premier League players, and according to Brazilian rules, people who have been in Britain must quarantine for 14 days. It was due to this that Brazil had not called up any of its players in the Premier League, after players had been disallowed to travel by their clubs. Argentina, on the other hand, had called up the players despite their clubs trying to block it, and the players had allegedly lied in the COVID-19 forms when entering Brazil. At the same time, Argentina appears to allege that they are under CONMEBOL and FIFA rules that have provided exceptions to quarantines; rules that were introduced for the Copa America.

There is no doubt whatsoever that anyone, including football players, must fulfill quarantine rules. But it is also the case that when these rules are not clear, then guessing becomes the rule. It appears that neither the Argentine Football Federation nor CONMEBOL had checked up with Brazilian authorities about the presence of the players. At the same time, the Brazilian football association appeared to have no problem with the Argentina PL players, and for three days Argentina were in Brazil, but only when the match had started, the Brazilian authorities decided to take action on the players, which appears if not farcical, at least strange.

In the long-winded TV images from the discussions it was nevertheless refreshing to see Brazilian and Argentina players being confused together, and as the good friends they are, smile at the farcical situation at a moment when they should have been facing each other in a footballing contest.

In the end this is another example of chaotic and disorganised football, that adds nothing positive to South America's image of being the home of the world's best footballers, but also the world's worst football organisers...

Cancelled football in South America

The South American World Cup qualifiers that were to take place in two weeks have been cancelled due to COVID. Or at least indirectly: the problem is that quarantine requirements in Europe has made it unlikely that most Europe-based players will be allowed by their employers to travel for the World Cup qualifiers. And obviously, nobody wants to play without their best players, so not only for the health risks, cancellation seems a very sensible decision.

In the meantime, the Copa America has still not been cancelled. It is still to take place in June-July, co-hosted by Argentina and Colombia. The two invited teams, Australia and Qatar, have both announced that they will not participate, leaving the 10 South American sides in the competition. There seems to be an exaggerated optimism that by June the problems of the European-based players will be solved, but besides this, a carelessness about the potential for the virus spreading in a continent that is already hugely affected by the pandemic. In this sense, cancellation seems like the most sensible option: not just postponement, like in 2020, but a full cancellation, and wait for better times.

All is normal in Latin America

In San Salvador I went to watch the qualifiers in Sports bar called Strikers. A nice place that was full of Colombians and a few Peruvians to what promised to be a clash as we were also watching the scores of the other matches in South America.
Argentina needed a victory in Quito, and it looked bleak as they went down 1-0 after one minute. But none other than Lionel Messi scored three goals to give them a victory and a spot in Russia.
The World Cup would not be the same without Argentina and Messi, so we should all celebrate.
In the meantime Uruguay got their expected qualification with a 4-2 victory over Bolivia, while Paraguay destroyed their own hopes by losing 0-1 at home to Venezuela (and watch out for the young Venezuelan side in the future!).
As all this was happening Peru and Colombia were playing a nervous match until Strikers exploded with two goals: James scored for Colombia as Brazil went ahead against Chile. This meant Colombia were qualified. Paolo Guerrero equalized for Peru, who needed a win, and Colombia seemed nervous, but it didn't matter: Brazil ended up trouncing the defending South American champions 3-0, meaning that all of a sudden Chile were out.
Colombia are in Russia while Peru are in the playoffs against New Zealand.

It was all too much in one of the most excitng qualification nights ever, but it did not stop there as we swithched over to the CONCACAF qualifiers, where nothing was going as expected: USA was losing 2-1 to Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras was winning 3-2 against Mexico, and just as we started watching Gabriel Torres gave Panama a 2-1 lead against Costa Rica.
It ended like this, and that means Panama are in Russia, Honduras are in a playoff against Australia and the USA can go home.
Granted, Panama qualified with a non-goal, but that doesn't take away that USA lost it themselves. The team has lost five matches, and they were outright arrogant in many of their matches. They have to face it: despite the advances, and MLS and all that, USA is still only a mid-ranking CONCACAF nation. The World Cup is much better without the USA!

A great evening in San Salvador as we look forward to a final round of playoffs to find out about the last teams in Russia.

Argentina without Messi

South American World Cup qualifiers continue to be the most nerve-wrecking and closely fought contest in the world: every team can defeat anyone, and as the end nears seven out of ten teams can qualify, with one more outsider. Only Brazil, who started weakly but has risen over the last year, seem to be certain of going to Russia after their recent away victory in Montevideo against Uruguay, who remain in second spot.
But Argentina tonight lost away 2-0 to Bolivia, and will struggle to keep their closest competitors from Chile, Colombia and Ecuador away. Even Paraguay could beat them to the World Cup spot, and Argentina could risk a play-off match, or worse, not qualify!
Except for fans of Argentina (including myself) the worst consequence of Argentina not qualifying would likely be a World Cup without Lionel Messi. Let us face it; besides Messi, and perhaps DiMaria (and not counting an ageing and 'wasted-in-Barcelona' Mascherano), Argentina only has mediocre players who are not up to the task without Messi. Tonight's defeat to Bolivia was a case in point: after having defeated the South American champions of Chile last week (with Messi scoring the winning goal) Messi stupidly insulted the referee and got himself a four-match suspension. Argentina without Messi was a mediocre side unable to break the home side in the altitude of La Paz. With only four matches left, Messi will be available for only one. And they are not easy matches: Uruguay away, and Venezuela and Peru at home. Argentina's best hope seems to be that the other teams take points from one another and that they do not lose too many points in these coming three matches.
It is not looking good for a World Cup with Argentina and Messi!

South American World Cup qualifiers

A new round of South American qualifiers has just taken place, with Argentina jumping to top of the table with 14 points with a 1-0 victory over Uruguay, on a goal by the returning Lionel Messi. Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador follow Argentina in the table, all with 13 points, and if it ends as it is, these would be the qualified teams for Russia. Ecuador, who until recently had been on first spot, surprisingly lost 0-3 at home to a Brazil side for whom the 19-year old new Manchester City signing, Gabriel Jesus, scored two goals. Brazil are now taking the 5th place, which is a play-off place, with 12 points, ahead on goal difference of Paraguay on 6th place. Paraguay has gotten stronger after a shaky start, and defeated the South American champions, Chile, 2-1 in Asuncion.
Chile, with 10 points, will be looking for a victory in their next match against Bolivia, to keep up with the teams above. It is nevertheless a testament to the high quality of the teams in South America that there is only four points difference between the 1st place and the 7th, with all having an option to qualify, or running a risk of ending outside the first five spots. The only teams that seem out at this point are Bolivia (6 points), Peru (4 points), and the hapless Venezuelans, who with 1 point are disappointingly out after previous years strong showing. That said, Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru have before shown that they are fully able to defeat any of the other sides, and that just gives the South American qualifiers more flavour and drama.
Be sure that there will be much more!

The South American qualifiers

As Europe is entering the last phase of the Euro 2016 qualifiers, other places are quietly starting their qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
Not so quietly perhaps in South America, where the first round of qualifiers came with a number of results that may be a prelude to what could be one of the most interesting World Cup qualifications ever:

• Chile defeated Brazil 2-0: As winners of the Copa America, Chile's superiority was only to be expected, although Brazil's weaknesses become ever more exposed. Brazil only shot on goal once in the match, and did not look like a World Cup team at all. While Chile's way to the World Cup seems very likely, Brazil looks like a side that will struggle.
• Argentina's home loss to Ecuador: this was a huge upset, as no team who has lost at home in the first round has ever qualified for a World Cup. Argentina were a shadow of themselves without Lionel Messi. This may have been arrogance, but is only a reminder to all sides that you cannot underestimate any side in the South American qualifiers, where every side is World class, not least the excellent Ecuatorians.
• Uruguay's defeat of Bolivia in La Paz: Of course Uruguay are favourites against Bolivia; but the fact is that this was the first time ever Uruguay had won a competitive match in the altitude of La Paz, where many teams have always struggles to play. The victory is also notable for the fact that Uruguay played without two of their best strikers, Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani.
• Venezuela's home loss to Paraguay: Venezuela had been coming on in strides and have been known to be strong at home, but started with a loss against a Paraguayan side that is rebuilding after having missed the last World Cup. Venezuela seems unlikely to recover, while Paraguay are sure to fight to the end as they always do.
• After their great World Cup, Colombia have been steadily underperforming, and they surely want to put this right by qualifying to the World Cup. Peru, on the other hand, has been steadily improving, so both teams are looking to make it to Russia. Colombia took their first step winning 2-0, but Peru cannot be counted out at all!

Epic Colombian qualification

A tie at home against Chile was enough for Colombia to qualify for their first World Cup since 1998. So there was a festive mood in Barranquilla, where Colombia has been awesome during this qualification campaign, and perhaps it was some of the reason that the Colombian team seemed to forget that they had to play the match before celebrating. Withing 30 minutes they were 0-3 down against an efficient Chilean side that seems likely to make it to Brazil.
Barranquilla was quiet, but Pekerman, the Argentinean coach of Colombia, must have spoken harsh to his players at half-time, as they came out with renewed attitude and attacking prowess. It took a harsh red card to Chile's Carlos Carmona, a strike by Teofilo Gutierrez and two penalty goals by Radamel Falcao to seal an epic comeback and a deserved spot in Brazil 2014.
That said, Colombia will suffer from the enormous pressure by the hugely expectant and critical Colombian fans, who can be as passionately unforgiven and cruel to their players as they can support them with emotion when they win. Few teams in the world face the kind of pressure Colombian players face, and this will probably be their downfall in Brazil next year, in spite of me hoping the opposite.
At least this time they will be able to blame it all on an Argentinean coach.

In spite of it all, Colombia's star players and excellent style of play are one of the teams that simply belong in Brazil next year, as the World Cup would not be the same without Colombia.

The revival of the Charrua

Great times are known to be great because they rise to the occasion. Defending South American champions Uruguay have had a difficult qualifying campaign for the World Cup in Brazil, and it had come down to them needing a victory away to Venezuela, who is desperately trying to clinch its first time in a world cup.
In the first match away Uruguay and Venezuela tied 1-1, and Uruguay had been dreadful away, winning no matches and only getting one tie.
But with all these odds against them, the Uruguayans rose to the occasion. Venezuela started well and had some fine chances, but it was Edison Cavani, who was a constant threat to the Venezuelans, who scored when Venezuela seemed to be playing best. For the rest of the match Uruguay played safely in defense, with dangerous counterattacks and intelligence to take home a much-needed victory.
Uruguay are now on the fifth play-off spot with 16 points, same as Venezuela, but better goal difference and one match less. Venezuela, whose world cup participation no longer depends on themselves has three matches left, the next one a crucial away clash against Chile, who took fourth spot by defeating Bolivia 3-1 tonight.
I do not mind if Venezuela does not qualify to the world cup. While well-organised and difficult to play against, Venezuela is not a side that will add anything new to the football world in Brazil 2014. I want Uruguay and Chile, countries with a proud footballing history, to participate instead of a country that is more into baseball and whose fans are generally ignorant about football.
Today Uruguay showed that they belong more in Brazil than Venezuela.

Venezuelan banter

There is not much "friendly" banter in South America, where tempers swell. And as we know in Europe, banter can sometimes go overboard, but fortunately it is mostly a thing where one teases your coming opponents for being useless drunks and crybabies before a match.
Like all FC Copenhagen fans ;)
So I found it quite amusing when the Bolivian football star,  Marco Etcheverry ("el Diablo"), before the world qualifying match Bolivia-Venezuela in La Paz next Friday, said that Venezuela "in my view are the best to make soap operas, with the Mexicans, and they have the best Miss Universes, for which I congratulate them", but then went on to say that Venezuela has done nothing on the football pitch and will leave La Paz "on their knees". (http://www.noticias24.com/internacionales/noticia/61272/el-diablo-etcheverry-desestimo-encuentro-con-la-vinotinto-son-buenos-para-hacer-novelas-y-misses/)
(Etcheverry was wrong on one point: Venezuelan soap operas are much better than the Mexican ones!)
When Venezuela was facing Chile earlier in the qualification, some Chilean reporters said the same and it also infuriated many Venezuelans, and I find this amazing: it is so innocent and funny that it should be rather laughed at than angered at! Normally Venezuelans are funny and quick-witted, but here they continue to act rather like little offended children.
I must admit find it harder and harder to support Venezuela in their effort to qualify to their first world cup given how sensitive people are about it, and how offended they get when one criticises anything about their team or fans.
That said, since the Venezuelans apparently need it, I help them by providing my top-five come-back phrases to use on the Bolivians:

• 5) Yeah, you made it to one world cup. Congratulations. 20 years ago. Wow. How did you do in it anyway?
• 4) At least we do not need to play at 4000 meters to win.
• 3) Even though we do not play at 4000 meters, we do win at home anyway.
• 2) We may "only" be fifth in the qualification group. But where are you? We never look below us.
• 1) There will surely be another Venezuelan Miss Universe someday, but there will NEVER be a Bolivian Miss Universe.

South American Qualifiers

I wore my Argentina shirt to work yesterday, as I was excited about Argentina getting revenge for the 1-0 away defeat to Venezuelan in the first round of the qualifiers. While Venezuela has been rising over the last years, the one thing they have still not achieved is to get a point in Argentina. And it was not to happen: Sabella's Argentina was superior to Venezuela in all respects, and in spite of Gonzalo Higuain's last goal being a clear off-side, Argentina's 3-0 victory was fully deserved. Argentina is quite certain to be in Brazil, and will be a contender for the title.
Venezuela is fighting for the fourth and fifth places in the South American qualifiers with Uruguay and Chile. One of these teams will lose out about Brazil. With Venezuela's loss, they had to hope their contenders did not do well, and they were lucky. Uruguay, who has been struggling lately, only managed to get 1-1 at home to Paraguay, who equalized late after Luis Suarez had brought the Uruguayans ahead. In the meantime Chile lost 1-0 to their arch-rivals Peru, so they remain in sixth place with 12 points, the same as Venezuela in fifth place (the play-off spot) and with Uruguay in fourth place with 13 points.
To make it all more interesting, Peru now has a chance to contend for one of the spots with 11 points.

Together with Argentina, Colombia is playing awesome football. Yesterday they played Bolivia at home and won 5-0 in an impressive performance with goals by Teofilo Gutierrez, Pablo Armero, Carlos Valdes, Macnelly Torres and Radamel Falcao. The team is attacking and possessing, and under Jose Pekerman they will be a team nobody will like to face in Brazil.
The pressure on Colombia will be from their passionate fans, who can go from the greatest expectations to the deepest depths of ingratitude to their team.

Next Tuesday Colombia will come to Venezuela in a match that is crucial for the home side, while Chile and Uruguay are facing each other in what will be another dramatic match.
There is no doubt that the South American qualifiers are the best qualifiers in the world in terms of quality, drama and excitement, and this will continue for the next matches!

Rise of the lamas

I do not have much sympathy for Peruvian fans: their whistling of the national anthems of Venezuela and Argentina in their recent qualifiers are just disgraceful. But I guess that is what you can expect if you are a lama.
That said, Peru has risen in this qualifying round. Their home win against Venezuela brought them back in the race for the World Cup, and in their last game against Argentina, in spite of the 1-1 tie, they showed that they surely have the quality to compete for the World Cup spots. They fought very hard, bordering the illegal, but with spirit and passion against an Argentinean side which looked dangerous by Higuain and Lavezzi as the Peruvians successfully annulled Messi. Argentina's defense nevertheless had to fight hard against the incursions of Farfan and the threats of Pizarro (although he missed a penalty). Peru went ahead on a goal by Eintracht Frankfurt's Carlos Zambrano, before Gonzalo Higuain equalized. In the second hand Peru came closest to the win, but Argentina pulled through to a useful tie that keeps them in first spot, while Peru keeps a door open on 7th place.

Venezuela, who had lost to Peru, came back with style by defeating Paraguay 0-2; another historic first for Venezuela, who had never won in Paraguay before. Paraguay, who has qualified to every World Cup since 1998, seems unlikely to qualify with their last place in the South American qualifiers.
Ecuador surprised Uruguay, who is apparently entering a crisis period, by 1-1 in Asuncion, and the surprising Ecuatorians are on third place behind Argentina and Colombia.
Colombia were surely the team of the round: after their resounding trashing of Uruguay, they played wonderfully and defeated Chile 1-3, in one of the most difficult away matches there are. Having made a hugely talented team work, Jose Pekerman is looking more and more likely to take Colombia for their first World Cup since 1998.

South American World Cup qualifiers

South America surely has the most exciting qualifying. All against all, nine teams (this time Brazil is not participating for being hosts) battle closely to get the 4 and a half spots for the tournament. And all are good teams. Unlike Europe, there are no San Marino's or Andorra's here. Just nine world class teams.
While Colombia took an important step with their 4-0 victory against Uruguay, Argentina moved to first spot after defeating Paraguay 3-1. Argentina did not start well, tying Bolivia and losing to Venezuela, but the Argentinean football machine seems to have gotten going. Lionel Messi, who has been criticised so much in playing for Argentina (from me as well) finally seems to have gotten his act together. Last night he was great, and scored on a beautiful free kick. At the same time the team is working well with Gago on midfield and Higuain on top, although the team should only be able to improve with the return of Sergio Aguero and Javier Mascherano (both had suspensions for this match).
Argentina will not be world champion in 2014. For that their defense still looks too shaky, and they depend too much on their stars rather than the collective. But a World Cup would not be the same without Argentina.
Venezuela is the only country in South America never to have played a World Cup, but with a strong a disciplined side they surely have their first real shot at the world stage. They started well, but have fallen behind lately with a loss at home to Chile. Last night Venezuela needed points away against Peru. At the same time, this was Peru's last call, needing a victory to remain with a chance to qualify. Venezuela played a great first half and went ahead on a free kick goal by Juan Arango, but in the second half Peru were a transformed side, and with a red card to Gabriel Cichero, Peru went on to take the victory with two goals by Schalke 04's Jefferson Farfan.
Both teams seem to on the edge for fighting for the last half spot for the World Cup, not unlikely against Ecuador, who moved up to third spot, ahead of Uruguay, after defeating Bolivia 1-0. Ecuador's third spot is based on four home victories, and they will struggle more away (as they already showed when they lost 4-0 to Argentina in Buenos Aires). This will be seen for the next round, on Tuesday, when Ecuador travel to Montevideo to face Uruguay.
Chile was the sit-over in this round, but remains in second spot, and it will be the match of the round when they take on Colombia in Santiago on Tuesday. In the meantime Venezuela travels to Paraguay, and Argentina will be facing Peru in Lima.

Uruguayan debacle and Colombian delight

Uruguay had a horrible Olympic tournament, where they had expected much more. And also, in the South American world cup qualifiers they have looked shaky in their last games.
Colombia on the other hand, have been full of expectations with Pekerman, and although winning, the magic formula have eluded them. In their home match against Uruguay, in Barranquilla, today, this changed. Colombia played with good possession and patience as they wore down Uruguay, and were extremely dangerous when they got near the Uruguayan goal. The currently strong Radamel Falcao scored the opener, while the popular (and quite controversial) player from Barranquilla's own Atletico Junior, scored two great goals. Napoli's Juan Camilo Zuniga closed the humilliation of Uruguay. While this is Uruguay's first defeat in the qualifiers the worries must be clear, as Uruguay still has some very difficult away games ahead of them. Today's defeat is a sign that Uruguay may. Be entering a period of decline after the enormous success of the last few years. Old stars like Diego Lugano and Diego Forlan have lost their shine, while stars like Edison Cavani or Luis Suarez are simply not working on the national team.
It is great for Clombia, who cansurely shine in the World Cup, but the warning signs are up for Uruguay.coc

The first round of Euro 2012

We have now had the opportunity to watch every team play in the Euro 2012, and if I have to say anything, it is disappointment.  this start of Euro 2012 has been marked by a Europe in crisis: off the pitch we have had match-fixing, racism and politics, and we have already seen the first hooliganism. This seems to be what Europe is all about... Welcome to it Poland and Ukraine!
And on the pitch it has not been much better. While a tournament usually starts with a bit of nerve and fear (not to say the outward cowardice showed by teams such as England and France),I cannot help but compare what I have seen until now with the World Cup qualifers in South America I have been following lately, as I live in Venezuela.
In South America there is no doubt, that in spite of all of the problems, passion and creativity still dominate the matches on the pitch. Be sure that all teams will fight for the last point, and will use their utmost skills and creativity to score goals. Teams like Uruguay and Argentina are fully at the standard of the best in Europe, while Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Peru and Ecuador surely have the quality to defeat almost any team in this year's Euro after the first round, and they are much more entertaining to watch.

In spite of me being delighted for Denmark, as football enthusiast I must admit that the Dutch lost to a clearly poorer Danish side, and that they had nothing to show when faced with adversity. Russia was good, in spite of playing a lousy Czech side, while Germany and Italy get acceptable marks for their performances, rising as the favourites of the tournament. Finally, that the best team in Europe, the world champions, chooses to play without a striker, is telling of a team that just wants to be playing a passing-catennaccio, instead of actually scoring goals. We are seeing too much defensive, careful football, with too few shots on goal, too many dives and cry-outs (sadly, I have started to think that players should keep playing when a player is lying crying on the pitch; they are usually up 20 seconds after the referee has stopped the play!!!! I would love to say they are like girls, but girls are more rough than the porcelain cry-babies we are seeing in this tournament!), as well as an apparent lack of pace (has it been a too long season for many players, then UEFA must do something about it) and generally poor technique.

I expect it to improve, but considering these things, I find it appalling that the next Euro 2016 is set to be with 24 teams. Pressure, quality and performance can only become worse by making a tournament which is just at its right size (if not too big). This may be the advantage of South America, where only 10 teams play all against all in the most competitive national team tournament in the world, with highst concentration of talented teams. In Europe, we are diluting the power of our football, and this is perhaps only a symptom of a Europe being diluted in general.

Uruguay's Venezuela complex?

Uruguay is one of the best footballing nations at the moment: semifinalist of the 2010 World Cup, winner of the 2011 Copa America, and currently ranked number 3 in the FIFA World rankings (behind Spain and Germany), they were looking to cement their lead in the South American World Cup qualifying group against Venezuela in Montevideo today.
Venezuela has been on the rise lately, and were number 2 in the qualifying group after some excellent initial results where they have, among others, defeated Argentina. And in fact, in spite of Uruguay's power, they have in fact had really bad results against Venezuela: not since 2001 has Uruguay defeated Venezuela, and in 2004, Venezuela gave one of the biggest humiliations Uruguay has ever had by defeating them 0-3 in Montevideo in another World Cup qualifier.
Still, I think most people expected Uruguay to win, and in the first half they indeed dominated and were leading 1-0 on a goal by the veteran Diego Forlan.
Although I live in Venezuela, I am not a big fan of the team, but like they played today, one must bow in respect: highly organized, disciplined and with a patience that seems to be their main characteristic, they slowly fight themselves into the match as Uruguay seemed to get more tired and comfortable. Some warnings had been given to the Uruguayan defense by some high balls into the Malaga striker Solomon Rondon, and it was indeed one such ball, in a perfectly timed counter-attack five minutes before the end, that Solomon Rondon scored the equalizer on a perfect header to the disappointment of the home fans.
This is a very important result for Venezuela, and although still early, it is looking more an more probable that they may qualify for their first World Cup ever (being the only South American side never to have gone to a World Cup).
I still think Uruguay will qualify, but this great footballing nation seems to have a problem with Venezuela.

South American qualifiers

Argentina is still not likely to go to the World Cup. At home, they did not manage to go beyond a 1-1 against the weakest side in South America, Bolivia, and the Argentines now only have 4 points for three matches. It was a well-deserved trashing that the local fans gave Messi and Company, a group of stars who should be in a circus rather than on a football pitch.
Uruguay on the other hand is unstoppable, and the best team in South America for sure. Luis Suarez continued to be a goal-machine as he scored all goals in their 4-0 trashing of Chile.
Venezuela has its aims at their first World Cup and took another little step with a 1-1 tie against their rivals from Colombia in Barranquilla. Colombia looked better much of the match, but as often with them, they are simply not efficient when it counts, while Venezuela is again proving its professionalism and fighting spirit to get another important result.
I believe Venezuela will be going to Brazil (which does nevertheless not mean that I want them to).
Finally, Paraguay defeated Ecuador 2-1.
The standing in the group seems as tight as it can get:

	P	W	T	L	Score	P
Uruguay	3	2	1	0	9-3	7
Argentina	3	1	1	1	5-3	4
Colombia	2	1	1	0	3-2	4
Paraguay	3	1	1	1	3-4	4
Venezuela	3	1	1	1	2-3	4
Ecuador	2	1	0	1	3-2	3
Peru	2	1	0	1	4-4	3
Chile	3	1	0	2	5-10	3
Bolivia	3	0	1	2	4-7	1