5 Tips for Thursday & Friday's South American WC Qualifiers - 9/9/21

On Thursday night, Paraguay host Venezuela in what is a must-win game for the hosts if they are to stand a chance of reaching Qatar 2022.

Paraguay are currently sixth in the standings, four points adrift of fourth-placed Uruguay, whilst Venezuela are at the bottom of the group with just four points from eight matches.

Remarkably, despite having eight points to their name, Paraguay have only won one match in the qualifiers having drawn five others and lost just twice. Their only victory so far came away at Venezuela back in October last year, where a Gaston Gimenez goal in the 85th minute settled the outcome of the match.

Venezuela have a leaky defence, conceding 13 in eight matches and have only scored four times which once again could be to the Paraguayan’s benefit, as they have scored seven times in eight games and will be hoping for a similar outcome to last time’s game on their home turf.

Uruguay versus Ecuador is a crucial fixture that takes place late on Thursday night, as it is fourth against third in the South American World Cup qualifying group.

Ecuador have been the surprise package in this year’s qualifiers and are the second top scorers in the group with 16 goals in eight matches, four more than the likes of Argentina, seeing them earn 13 points in the process, one more than their opponents Uruguay.

Both sides have had a solid international break, as Uruguay have drawn 1-1 with Peru and beat Bolivia 4-2 last time out as Giorgian de Arrascaeta (2), Federico Valverde and Agustin Alvarez all got on the scoresheet. Oscar Tabarez’s side are without key strike duo Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani this international break, so this win was very important.

Meanwhile, Ecuador have shown a different side to their game, having beaten Paraguay 2-0 and drawn 0-0 with Chile in what was an even contest, despite going down to ten-man for the last half an hour of the match. Uruguay will be looking towards their strong defensive unit containing the likes of Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez to edge out a result.

At midnight ticking over into Friday morning, Colombia take on Chile with the hosts knowing that they can make up ground on one of Uruguay or Ecuador as they sit three points behind the latter with both teams facing each other, whilst Chile are eighth on seven points.

The last time these two sides faced off, the match finished 2-2 in Chile, thanks to a 91st minute equaliser from Rayo Vallecano striker Radamel Falcao, having fallen behind to goals from Inter Milan duo Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez despite initially taking the lead via Jefferson Lerma in the seventh minute.

Colombia have significantly tightened up their defence from their last batch of qualifiers last year, but this hasn’t stopped them from drawing 1-1 with both Paraguay and Bolivia. Meanwhile, Chile are yet to score a goal this time out following a 1-0 loss to Brazil and 0-0 draw with Ecuador.

Gremio striker Miguel Borja started up-front versus Paraguay and has a decent record for his national side, scoring five in 19 appearances. The 28-year-old is priced at 9/5 to score anytime against Chile.

Argentina go head to head with Bolivia at 12:30 AM (BST) on Friday morning looking to further consolidate their qualification for the World Cup in Qatar.

The Copa America winners have managed 15 points from seven matches, winning two of their last four against Venezuela 3-1 last Friday via goals from Lautaro Martinez, Joaquin Correa and Angel Correa. Lionel Scaloni’s other sides win in this patch of fixtures came last October against Bolivia by a 2-1 scoreline.

Bolivia are currently in ninth place in the South America World Cup qualifying standings with just six points from eight matches, conceding 19 in the process.

Lionel Messi is the player in focus here, having managed to guide his side to Copa America glory in the summer in Brazil, the first time that they had won this tournament since 1993. The 34-year-old scored a brace in a 4-1 win against Bolivia in Group A of the Copa America and has scored 76 goals in 151 appearances for his country.

The final game on this list comes from Peru, with the home side having a huge task on their hands with group leaders Brazil coming to town in a 1:30 AM (BST) kick-off on Friday.

Peru have managed to get four points from two matches in qualifying this month, following a 1-1 draw with Uruguay and a 1-0 win over Venezuela last time out, as Christian Cueva scored the only goal of the game.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s last game against Argentina was suspended, but they did scrape a hard-earned victory over Chile last Friday thanks to Everton Ribeiro’s 64th-minute strike. Tite’s side have been mightily impressive in qualifying, having won all seven matches, scoring 17 and conceding just twice.

These two sides met twice in the Copa America with Brazil coming out on top 4-0 in the group stages, before narrowly defeating Peru once again in the semi-finals with Lucas Paqueta’s 35th-minute goal being enough to settle the outcome at 1-0.

Gabriel Barbosa has scored three goals in nine caps for Brazil and came into this international break having fired in seven goals in his last five matches for Flamengo, seeing the 25-year-old priced at 7/4 to score in a Brazil win having started against Chile last time out.