South American football giants Brazil and Argentina were held to unlikely draws against lowly rivals in the region's qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.
Brazil could do no better Wednesday night than a goalless draw against lowly, 10-man Bolivia in Rio de Janeiro while Argentina scored a promising goal just eight minutes before the end of the game in Lima only to have Peru equalize 1-1 in the last seconds of injury time.
In earlier games, Chile thrashed Colombia 4-0 in Santiago to overtake both Colombia and Uruguay in the standings while Ecuador consolidated their recovery with a valuable goalless draw against Uruguay in Montevideo.
After Wednesday's contests, Paraguay's 2-0 win against Venezuela Tuesday in Asuncion became particularly valuable. After eight rounds of qualifiers, Paraguay was at the top of the standings at 17 points with Brazil, Argentina and Chile tied at 13 and Uruguay following with 12 points.
In South America's 10-team World Cup qualifiers, each side plays each of the other nine teams at home and away. The top four win a place in the World Cup in South Africa with the fifth-ranking team having a chance to also advance if they win a playoff with a representative of the North, Central American and Caribbean region.
Brazil again showed their poorest form Wednesday, three days after a comfortable, 3-0 win over Chile in Santiago had given coach Carlos Dunga much-needed relief from withering criticism.
At the Engenhao stadium, an orderly, defensive Bolivia had Ignacio Garcia sent off in the 53rd minute for a foul on Robinho. Even Brazilian television commentators thought the red card was harsh, but Bolivia still managed to keep the game scoreless.
The team around Ronaldinho and Robinho lacked creativity and was humiliated on home turf by Bolivia, who remain last in the South American qualifiers despite the draw.
Brazilian fans shouted insults, calling Dunga "burro," or "donkey," and saying, "adeus," or "goodbye," in a call for his resignation or sacking.
"Booing is natural when the team does not play well and fails to win," Dunga said. "We have put on a good performance against Chile, and everyone was expecting us to repeat it today. That was the fans' way to protest."
Brazilian players agreed with their coach, and keeper Julio Cesar conceded failure in the match.
"We played badly," he said. "We had an extra player, and we were unable to make the most of that advantage."
Bolivian coach Erwin Sanchez was exultant over the unlikely result, and said "Bolivia was perfect."
For the fifth-consecutive round in the qualifiers, Argentina failed to obtain a win Wednesday.
In a game in which Peru invested tough work and Argentina's stars failed to shine, Esteban Cambiasso put the visitors ahead eight minutes from the end. The Inter Milan midfielder barely had to push in a low cross from Fernando Gago.
The goal appeared set to cover up the poor performance of the men led by Alfio Basile with a lacklustre Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero very much alone in front.
However, in the very last ball played in the game, well into injury time, Johan Fano scored what seemed to be a well-deserved point for Peru.
Fano's goal was similar to Cambiasso's, as he brought home a cross from Juan Vargas from the left.
"We did not play our best game," Argentine defender Martin Demichelis admitted. "It got terribly complicated."
Peru's Vargas expressed a widespread opinion that "Argentina would not have deserved a win."
"A defeat would really have hurt us," veteran Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano agreed.
Still, Peru remained ninth in the table with 7 points.
In Santiago, defender Gonzalo Jara opened the scoring for Chile in the 25th minute while striker Humberto Suazo made things 2-0 in the 38th.
Defender Ismael Fuentes was on target three minutes after the break, and man-of-the-match Matias Fernandez netted the fourth goal in the 70th minute.
Uruguay and Ecuador delivered little emotion in a disappointment for fans of Uruguay, which saw valuable points slip away against an up-and-coming team that could be a direct rival in the fight for a place in the World Cup.
Source:http://www.bangkokpost.com
