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Ecuador seals best start to qualifiers
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ECUADOR beat Uruguay on Thursday to top the South American World Cup qualifying group after three games but Brazil and Argentina must wait after their much anticipated clash was postponed because of heavy rain.
Ecuador won 2-1 to record its third consecutive win and its best start to the qualifying phase.
Goals by Felipe Caicedo and Fidel Martinez gave the Andean side, which began with a shock 2-0 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires last month, the three points in Quito after Edinson Cavani had scored an equalizer for Uruguay.
The win was at altitude but Ecuador was missing four leading players, including the England-based pair of Valencias, Antonio and Enner, while Uruguay, still without Luis Suarez, was strengthened by striker Cavani’s return from suspension.
“(Ecuador) are a good team and they were playing at home where we suffered a lot,” Uruguay’s coach Oscar Tabarez told reporters.
“The altitude always has an influence, if a player is imprecise he will be more so at altitude. But I’m not going to use that as an excuse, it’s not my style.”
Chile missed a chance to stay joint top when Colombia came from behind to grab a deserved 1-1 draw in Santiago.
Better team
A header from Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal on the stroke of half-time put the home side ahead but Colombia was the better team in the second period and Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez got an equalizer with 67 minutes gone.
Argentina, with only one point from two matches, was supposed to meet Brazil in Buenos Aires but the match was postponed because of torrential rain in the Argentine capital.
The game is now scheduled to take place yesterday at 9pm local time.
“We met with match officials and the Argentine representatives and there’s no way the game can go on,” Brazil’s assistant coach Gilmar Rinaldi told reporters at the stadium.
“The players could be at risk and the referee decided to postpone the game.”
Brazil is sixth in the 10-team group, while Argentina is eighth. Four teams qualify automatically for Russia 2018 and a fifth goes into a playoff.
Bolivia, which lost its first two matches, lifted itself off the bottom of the table with a 4-2 win over Venezuela.
Striker Rodrigo Ramallo scored twice, midfielder Juan Arce converted a penalty and Rudy Cardozo hit the host’s fourth in the second half.
Venezuela, which struggled to knit moves together, replied through Mario Rondon and Richard Blanco though had fellow striker Luis Seijas sent off in added time.
Peru was facing Paraguay in Lima yesterday.
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