Brazil drop their first points as Argentina rout past Uruguay to consolidate their second position

(Football news) In the latest round of South American World cup qualifiers Brazil lost their 100% win record as they drew to Columbia but on the other hand Argentina showed why they are the Copa America champions as they beat Uruguay quite comfortably to consolidate second place in the table.

Tite made several changes after the win over Venezuela as he got back his main starter for this crucial encounter. Brazil looked more likely to get on the scoresheet after Fred squandered the best chance of the match, the match was a dead grub but the introduction of Leeds winger Raphinha added some much needed attacking impetus to the attack. Columbia too had some good chances but ultimately will be happy to get a draw against a strong Brazilian side. With this result Brazil are still 9 points ahead of Argentina with 28 points from 10 matches

Argentina sailed past Uruguay 3-0 to take another major step towards qualification. In the first half Suarez had three great opportunities within the first 30 minutes but only to be denied by Emilo Martniez, but Lionel Messi 10 minutes from the end of the first half floated a cross which somehow sneaked into the goal, six minutes later Lautaro Martinez missed queued shot fell for Rodrigo De Paul who calmly slotted the ball into the net. In the second half, Lautaro Martinez put the result to bed after he tapped in De Paul’s low cross in the 60 minute. With this result Argentina go to 22 points 6 points clear of third.

Messi after the match said, “ We played a great game, Everything worked out perfectly. Uruguay waits for you and they generate danger. Once we got the first goal we started to find space and the goals appeared."

Chile finally got a 2-0 victory over Paraguay to somewhat keep their slim chances of qualification alive, goals in the second half from Brereton and Isla helped them get a much needed victory as Aranguiz got sent off. With this result they move within two points of 6th position. In the other result, Ecuador got stunned by Venezuela as they lost 2-1, goals from Machis and Bello sealed the result for the lower ranked team. Although with this loss Ecuador still remained in third with 16 points.

Also read: Brazil extend their lead at the top of the table as Argentina and Uruguay both draw

The other fixtures to keep an eye out this week are: