With Peru vs. Colombia, seven teams fight for two and a half places at the Qatar 2022 World Cup

With Ecuador very close to qualifying for Mundial Qatar 2022; Colombia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay will fight for the remaining quota and a half towards the World Cup. The last two double dates of the South American Qualifiers They will be exciting from start to finish and you will be able to live them on the website of the newspaper El Comercio.

Brazil and Argentina confirmed that they are detached from the rest by qualifying early, while Ecuador surprised locals and strangers at the hands of Argentine coach Gustavo Alfaro and with 23 units is about to return to a World Cup after being left out of Russia 2018.

“We are close, but the most difficult thing is still to come, because we have very complex games ahead of us”, Alfaro said days ago to radio La Red de Argentina.

Leading Brazil in Quito on Thursday will be the first of the finals for Alfaro. And four days later against Peru in Lima, Ecuador could seal their pass to Qatar, which would be their fourth presence in the history of the World Cups.

Planted in fourth position are the coffee growers with 17 points and Peru in fifth, which gives the right to a playoff, with the same score but less goal difference.

Both went to Russia-2018 and the responsibility to stay in the elite begins to weigh.

On Friday in the ‘hell’ of Barranquilla, those led by Reinaldo Rueda and the Argentine Ricardo Gareca will face each other.

“They are the games that one wants to play, that one anxiously awaits because they define things”, said ‘El Tigre’ Gareca last week when delivering the list of summoned of the Inca team.

The action for these two teams will continue on February 1 when Colombia visits Argentina and Peru hosts Ecuador.

In Uruguayan ranks the pressure is great and their brand new coach, Diego Alonso, will debut in Asunción against Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s Paraguay next Thursday, in a game of life or death for both.

The era of the ‘Maestro’ Oscar Tabárez ended in the worst way with Uruguay in seventh position, with 16 points, and with its great figures, the veteran scorers Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, with more lows than highs in their teams: Atlético Madrid and Manchester United.

Alonso was chosen to fight to remain in the elite, that position that the team resumed in South Africa-2010 with fourth place and kept qualifying for the world championships that followed the rebirth of the team in Africa.

Tabárez and figures such as Diego Forlán, the ‘Pistolero’ Suárez and the ‘Matador’ Cavani in attack and defense gladiators such as Diego Godín returned the prestige to the Celeste, two-time world champion (1930 and 1950). But the castle they built could collapse.

The selection a hot iron? “No”, stated Alonso, with experience as a coach in Mexico, Paraguay and the United States, in a recent interview with the Uruguayan newspaper El Pais.

“It is a spectacular challenge”, added the DT who will have the responsibility of maintaining the string of Charrúas in World Cups, which have not been lacking since Germany-2006. An objective that will depend on the results of the duel against the Guarani, Venezuela on February 1 and in March against Peru and Chile.

La Roja will be the last rival of the light blue in these qualifiers and the golden generation of Chile has reason to hope to return to a World Cup, after being left out of Russia.

With the Uruguayan Martín Lasarte in the technical direction, Chile, sixth with 16 points, has the difficult task of facing Argentina, which will go without Messi, without Arturo Vidal on Thursday at home in Calama, and on February 1 against Bolivia in La Paz .

The ‘King’ Arturo will join Alexis Sánchez and other Chilean figures in March on a visit to Brazil and also in Calama against Uruguay, a high-voltage game with a reserved prognosis.

And with somewhat less expectations, but without lowering their arms, Bolivia marches with 15 units and Paraguay with 13.

With the height on their side in the duel against Chile on February 1, after visiting Venezuela on Friday, Bolivia continues to dream. Like a Paraguay that will try not to say goodbye after facing Celeste in Asunción and the five-time world champion Brazil at home.