The South American Qualifiers They arrive on Thursday at the halfway point in the midst of a rarefied climate for several coaches and when the generous regional provision of qualifications for the North America World Cup 2026.
The first to sign up is Argentine national team (leader with 18 points) who breathes with the return of Lionel Messi for the duel against Venezuela, unlike Brazilin pain for an unprecedented fifth place and for the absence of the injured Vinicius Jr for a key duel against the also suffering Chile team.
In the duel of the day, Chile will host Brazil with the risk of suffering serious injuries in the event of the host’s defeat and alarms that will go off if the visitor falls.
The coach of Brazil, Dorival Junior, lives under strong criticism but still has credit despite the fact that the five-time world champion lost four of the last five matches in the Qualifiers, a historical rarity.
The alarms have not yet sounded in Brazil. Because it is very difficult for them not to qualify for the 2026 World Cup having at hand a friendly system of six direct qualifications for the region and a playoff for the seventh, among ten teams.
But the proud green-yellow is in low hours. His game is bland, tiring and young people like Vinicius Jr. (he will not play due to injury), Rodrygo or Endrick, called to take the baton of great glories, do not exploit.
On the other hand, the Chilean coach, Ricardo Garecayes, it is on the edge of the ledge, in an uncomfortable penultimate place (5 points in eight games).
In addition to the very weak performance of La Roja in the World Cup, Tigre Gareca suffers the attacks of a heavyweight like Arturo Vidal, who has severely questioned him for not calling him and his companions from the Golden Generation, the one that won the 2015 editions. and 2016 of the Copa América.
Marcelo Biela, coach of Uruguay, unexpectedly experiences a similar situation. Nothing more and nothing less than their historic scorer, the ‘Pistolero’ Luis Suárez, fired with heavy ammunition against Loco, shortly after announcing his retirement from La Celeste.
“Many players held a meeting to ask the coach to at least say good morning, not even say hello”said Suárez, among other harsh criticisms of Bielsa, who has not yet responded to the player’s statements.
Uruguay comfortably moves to the third place in the table (15 points, three behind Argentina), but the big unknown is knowing how Suárez’s statements will impact the mood of the River Plate squad.
The Charrúas will face Peru on Friday in Lima, which is last with just three points and no wins in eight games.
The coach of the Inca team, the Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, is also in a quandary and with an unflattering near future: after the very complicated duel with the Celeste this Thursday, he will have to visit Brazil next week.
Source: Ambito
