Brazil may have lost their 100 percent record in World Cup qualification under coach Tite, but they had plenty of reasons to be satisfied with a 1-1 draw away to Colombia on Tuesday.
The conditions were difficult in the sweltering afternoon heat of Barranquilla. Brazil’s logistics were bizarre: They’d chosen to play Thursday’s home game at the other end of the continent in Porto Alegre, giving themselves a massive journey north. Brazil were without injured centre-back Miranda and suspended left-back Marcelo, and they chose to leave first-choices Casemiro and Gabriel Jesus on the bench.
Even so, they looked like a team, attacking in well-coordinated clusters of three, with Paulinho choosing the right moment to burst into the opposing box, and with occasional flashes of dazzling individual talent. Most of it came from Neymar, but there were glimpses from Willian, who lashed them into the lead on the verge of halftime with a stunning shot from the edge of the area.
Brazil’s weak point is the space behind the attacking full-backs, and it was here that Colombia struck to equalise early in the second half. With James Rodriguez back in the team and Abel Aguilar linking the play from midfield, Colombia were less disjointed than of late. But they had a problem getting centre-forward Radamel Falcao into the game. His back-to-goal play is not impressive, but facing goal, he is a thrilling sight attacking crosses. And after Rodriguez played in Santiago Arias down the right, Falcao showed fine movement to get in front of his marker, Marquinhos, and glance his header inside the far post.
Chile lose more ground, Peru on the cusp
Colombia are making slow but steady progress toward Russia. Chile, meanwhile, are hurtling in the wrong direction, losing 1-0 away to Bolivia. The extreme altitude of La Paz is always difficult for visitors, and there was some spice to the game after what happened a year ago. Bolivia held Chile to a 0-0 draw in Santiago but fielded an ineligible player for the final few minutes; the match would be awarded to the Chileans on a 3-0 margin.
Without those extra points, Chile really would be struggling, because their ageing side seems to have run out of goals. This was their second consecutive game without finding the net — the fourth such game, if the final and semifinal of the Confederations Cup are included. There is more bad news too: Alexis Sanchez picked up a yellow card, which rules him out of the next game, at home to Ecuador; and after that, Chile will complete their campaign with a trip to Brazil, who have never lost a World Cup qualifier at home and will be looking to say farewell to their public in style.
The other beneficiaries of Bolivia fielding that ineligible player were Peru, who had a 2-0 defeat transformed into a 3-0 win. It was their first away win in World Cup qualification in more than a decade, and it appears to have shown Peru how to do it. Coach Ricardo Gareca’s young side have found form at the right time, putting together a little run of four wins and a draw in their past six games. Two of those have come away from home.
This latest 2-1 triumph in Ecuador is especially pleasing. Peru came through under pressure in a crunch encounter, defending staunchly and breaking at pace. There were some anxious moments at the end. After going two goals up, they conceded a goal from a penalty and went down to 10 men for the last few minutes. But they held on to give themselves a real chance of making it to the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
Peru have lost several key players for the next match: It’s another crunch away tie, this one in Argentina. But they are fully entitled to celebrate this victory before getting down to the serious business of planning to take on Lionel Messi & Co.
Sampaoli, Argentina live to fight another day
By the time Argentina kicked off against Venezuela in Buenos Aires, they were down to sixth place in the table; outside the qualification slots and 90 minutes l
