The Maracanazo ranks as one of the most memorable moments in World Cup history. In front of an expectant Maracana crowd and with Brazil’s government having already crowned their team champions, Uruguay came back from a goal down to secure a 2-1 victory that saw them snatch the 1950 World Cup title away from their hosts.
When Uruguay reached finished fourth in the 2010 World Cup and then won the Copa America a year later the stage seemed set for a repeat in 2014, when Brazil will host their second World Cup. But after continuing their terrible run of form in the most recent two rounds of World Cup qualifying this past week, Uruguay’s participation is now seriously in doubt.
With Brazil qualifying automatically as hosts, the remaining nine South American nations are competing for four automatic places and one spot in a two-legged playoff with the fifth placed team from Asia – currently Iran or Australia. Prior to the recent double header, Uruguay were in fifth, level on points with Venezuela in fourth; now they are sixth, two points shy of a qualification place and with Peru looming large in their rear-view mirror.
Uruguay had hoped to pick up four points from a home fixture against Paraguay and a trip to Santiago to face Chile, but instead managed just one, from the first match, before falling to a limp 2-0 defeat in Chile. Error-prone in defence and blunt in attack, these results extended Uruguay’s winless run to six qualifiers, in which they have lost four and drawn two, scored three and conceded 15.
Oscar Washington Tabarez now has much to ponder ahead of his side’s next fixture, away to Venezuela in June.
He will be contemplating how to get more from a strike pairing that features the top scorers of the Premier League (Luis Suarez) and Serie A (Edinson Cavani) yet was unable to muster a single effort on target against Chile; how to shore up a defence plagued by mistakes that gifted goals to their opponents in both recent fixtures; and how to inject some creativity into a side that, Nicolas Lodeiro apart, have looked woefully bereft of invention.
Tabarez has largely stuck with the same tried and tested squad. Of the 24 players who have played a part during the World Cup qualification process to date, only three – Alejandro Silva, Gaston Ramirez and Matias Aguirregaray – were not part of the squads for the 2010 World Cup or 2011 Copa America. The 2012 Olympics was supposed to shed light on a new generation of talent, but Uruguay’s abject failure at that tournament tainted most of the participants and has left Tabarez reticent to experiment.
La Celeste were in a similarly precarious position with just three matches left to play during the qualification process for World Cup 2010 before victories over Colombia and Ecuador allowed them to finish fifth. Their run-in does, however, look very difficult this time around. After Venezuela they must also play Peru and Ecuador away, while their remaining home matches are against the two most impressive teams of late: Argentina and Colombia.
It would be foolish to completely write off this generation, considering their previous heroics, but their prospects do not look great. In the wake of their 2011 Copa America success, some were touting them as potential outsiders for the 2014 World Cup. 63 years on from the Maracanazo, this time it could be Uruguay who fall foul of lofty expectations.
Elsewhere on the continent, Argentina opened up an 11-point gap to the last non-qualifying place and are now all but certain of a spot in Brazil after a Lionel Messi inspired 3-0 home win over Venezuela and a hard fought 1-1 draw away in Bolivia. There are still some question marks over their defending, but otherwise Alejandro Sabella’s team are starting to look a very formidable unit.
Ecuador sat out the first round of fixtures, but thereafter recorded a convincing 4-1 win at home to Paraguay to move up to second in the table, just four points behind Argentina with a game in hand. The victory continued their 100% home record during the qualification process, and although four of their remaining six matches are away from home they have given themselves an excellent chance of qualifying.
Colombia delighted onlookers with some sumptuous football during their 5-0 win at home to Bolivia. James Rodriguez, Macnelly Torres and Teofilo Gutierrez were all superb for Los Cafeteros, who have a game in hand and a four-point cushion over Chile and Venezuela, despite losing to the latter in the second of their two fixtures, and are looking good to reach a first World Cup since 1998.
Venezuela have serious designs on qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in their history and moved level with Chile in fourth following their victory over the Colombians, achieved in a pulsating match in front of a raucous home crowd in Puerto La Cruz. With three of their five outstanding fixtures at home, that same crowd may just inspire them to a historic achievement.
Chile began the double header with a disorganised performance in a 1-0 defeat away to Peru, but bounced back to record victory over Uruguay, a first competitive success for new coach Jorge Sampaoli. It was a high-octane performance with plenty of movement in the attacking third, signalling a return to the style favoured by Marcelo Bielsa – on whose philosophy Sampaoli’s is predicated – after the more sedate football served up under Claudio Borghi.
Peru are still just about in the hunt following Jefferson Farfan’s late winner against Chile and could in fact move to within one point of a qualifying place if they win their game in hand. That victory, coupled with impressive performances from the likes of Paolo Hurtado and Yoshimar Yotun, and the convincing 3-0 friendly win over Trinidad and Tobago with a young side that followed it, have renewed hope that Peru could yet make a late challenge.
At the bottom of the group, hopes are fast fading for both Bolivia and Paraguay. Bolivia striker Marcelo Moreno Martins was so distraught in the wake of their 1-1 draw with Argentina that he stated his intention to quit international football, while Paraguayans are having to come to terms with the fact that after four straight World Cup appearances it looks like Brazil 2014 will be the first tournament since USA 1994 in which they will not compete.
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