“Goals are love, also great pain”

The goals marked the penultimate function of the Qualifiers, which on Tuesday lowers the final curtain. Not that there were too many, they were significant. The one from the peruvian national team, which was a goal even though Havelange rises from his grave and tells us no. A goal that once again confronts us with our third-worldism with that Creole VAR, which works at will, one day yes and two no. Lucho Díaz’s goal that put an end to Colombia’s ordeal with the net, a heartbreak that lasted seven games and 58 minutes. The goals of Brazil, always so ruthless, that sank the Chilean boat. Messi’s goal, who became Messi again after months of darkness in the City of Light. And the unexpected goals from Paraguay that sent Ecuador to bed early and not wanting to celebrate. Also the goals suffered by Bolivia, which equaled its mark from the previous Qualifiers: 38 conceded.

The only VAR in which you don’t want to drink is in South America. It’s a bad drink. I no longer want to analyze it technically. That bodybuilder Anderson Daronco directs is almost insulting. One scandal after another is armed for him and they continue to give him transcendent games, why? That there is no goal line technology in South America, the famous chip on the ball and on the goal that has been in Europe for years, why? why? Instead of talking about the game we always end up fussy with VAR and arbitrations in South America, why?

“How is there no chip in a game where millions are at stake to go to the World Cup…?” Many wondered after Peru’s goal, which will never appear in the statistics. But not everything is dollars, and the illusion…? the millions of people’s broken hearts?

It had to be Luis Díaz who broke Colombia’s goalscoring drought. And he did it in a big way, with a goal without a goal situation. The good ones create the plays alone. Lucho is a restaurant run by its owners: it cooks, it serves, it charges… What it shows in Liverpool, it showed with the national team. Without losing his humility, he is seen drinking gallons with that shirt and generating a current of strong affection with people. A crack five stars. There will always be the sour one who says “journalism first deceives it and then sinks it.” Or the one who says that the team has Luchodependencia. Class players always generate subordination. In Brazil there was no Pelédependencia because there were also Jairzinho, Gerson, Tostao, Rivelino, Didí, Vavá… (signatures follow).

Ecuador will go to the World Cup for the fourth time. Widely deserved. The party was spoiled because, naturally, winning the ticket is not the same as losing 3-1. But they have many young players and this defeat against Paraguay will serve as a lesson for them in Qatar: never slack off. In a World Cup, the one who blinks goes home quickly.

Perhaps as never before in this classification there was such inequality between the greats and the others. Brazil and Argentina remain undefeated and have achieved a very high performance of 87.5% and 79.17%. The rest, away. Ecuador and Uruguay got their ticket with less than 50%: 49.02. And Chile reaches the last date still with the possibility of entering the World Cup having shown a minimum efficiency: 37.25%. In other words, for every three points he loses almost two and still could achieve his goal.

“Lasarte was chosen because he was visiting Chile and it was cheap. That was the technical criteria”, says Juan Cristóbal Guarello, the best Chilean sports journalist. He refers to the Uruguayan coach. The same thing can happen to Chile as to Italy, after winning two Copa América in a row, being left out of two consecutive World Cups. And it’s cold outside… Italy were champions of the European Championship, but fell unbelievably against Macedonia in Palermo and will see another World Cup on television. This is how the Russian saw it. There is a tango that just suits him, the one that says “Palermo, you have me dry and sick”. Palermo is the racecourse of Buenos Aires.

“I’m happy for the people, who are living this beautiful moment of Bolivian football,” said César Farías, the Venezuelan coach of Bolivia. He said it on Wednesday, at the press conference prior to the clash with Colombia. Bolivia is penultimate and received 38 goals, the same position and the same number of regretted goals as in the previous Qualifiers. As a speech it is too daring.

After months off, goalless, slow, unknown, Lionel Messi dressed as a superhero again. The rival did not matter but him. He looked very recovered physically after a season full of problems. Once again we saw his great passes, but above all his dribbles and his desire. He played late, as always, but with more arrival at the rival goal, the product of an athletic rebound that was not seen at Paris Saint Germain. He suffered again the strange and novel resistance of the Venezuelans. By the way: why is Venezuela hitting so hard…? Where did Vinotinto get that bad habit from…?

That’s what all Argentine journalism said. He was referring to the World Cup, which will be played between November and December. Despite having a large number of absences, Argentina returned to play at a high level, with remarkable preciousness, security and a degree of understanding. Press down the pitch and win the ball back in seconds. And when he has it, he plays, attacks, unbalances. The miracle that Scaloni has worked is for study by the Vatican. If the World Cup were today, he would be a serious contender to fight at the top, but there are eight months to go. And apart from that, Messi is a candle that God knows when it will go out.

The images of the VAR of Peru’s goal had not yet passed when the lights of the Centenario stadium went out and the fireworks began for the Uruguayan classification. Quick… Don’t let Daronco regret it.

On Tuesday, each fan will watch their team’s match with one eye and with the other they will be at the Nacional in Lima to see what happens in the crucial Peru-Paraguay match. Everyone wants to check the degree of opposition that Paraguay will make, that nothing else is at stake but honor. La Albirroja dropped its two stars: captain Gustavo Gómez and the talented Micky Almirón. And three other starters: Mathías Villasanti, Blas Riveros and Robert Morales. Peru has the table served, let’s see if it doesn’t choke…