A new date has just been completed in the qualifiers for the World Cup Qatar 2022.
After the break imposed by the pandemic and the suspension of the previous date scheduled for the matches to be played, in a climate of empty stadiums, the South American soccer teams faced each other again trying to achieve the pre-set goal: to reach next year's World Cup to be held in Qatar.
And within this panorama, there were no great matches. The lack of continuous training, the incorporation of new players and the abnormal climate of playing in an empty stadium have left their marks.
Brazil continues to confirm why (FIFA statistics aside) it is still the world's leading soccer power. It can win or lose. But its karma remains intact. They won at home against Ecuador and have 15 points in 5 matches. Ideal score. It leads comfortably, four points ahead of Argentina.
An Argentina that does not decline. That continues with its usual problems. With a Messi who does not look at all like the Messi of Barcelona (although in recent times his star seems to be fading). With new and young players or with veteran players with many national team games behind them, it continues to show the same operational problems. The players change, the coaches change, but the flashes of quality of their players do not appear. And the team fails to consolidate. It is comfortable in its second position but at the game level it is not convincing at all. The match (and the draw) with Chile, another team full of veterans, except for the last quarter of an hour, was more to worry about than to celebrate.
Ecuador, with its limitations and despite losing to Brazil, remains in third place. It must be said that the only matches they have lost have been -so far- precisely against Brazil and Argentina, the first two. From this analysis, their performance is not out of place and they can legitimately aspire to qualify.
Of the rest, the one that seems to be heading in the best way is Colombia, which defeated Peru as a visitor. But they are all grouped together and a victory could change everything.
Uruguay and Paraguay seem to play more not to lose than to win and Bolivia has only the altitude as an ally. Although they have the top scorer of the qualifiers.
Peru and Venezuela seem to have the road to Qatar decidedly closed. It would take a real miracle for them to reach the playoffs with at least some aspirations.