Buenos Aires - The 12th round of South America's qualifiers towards the 2010
World Cup in South Africa finds regional giants Brazil and Argentina experiencing conflicting fortunes. Argentina are cruising under new coach Diego Maradona, and a solid 4-0 thrashing of lowly Venezuela over the weekend makes them optimistic ahead of the game against
Bolivia Wednesday, at high altitude in La Paz.
Brazil, in turn, appear to be rolling under pressure. A poor performance in Sunday's 1-1 draw away against Ecuador leaves a small margin of error for Wednesday's game against
Peru - the worst team in the qualifiers so far - in Porto Alegre.
The side coached by Carlos Dunga has drawn its last three home games, and in all cases Brazilian players have even failed to score, with no sign of their trade-mark "jogo bonito."
The demanding home crowd has booed the Brazilian team in general and Dunga in particular, and even humiliated them by cheering for arch-rivals Argentina last year.
Patience is running short, and the players know it. Kaka was injured for the weekend game but is expected to play Wednesday, but his recent performances with the national team, like those of fellow-stars Robinho and Ronaldinho, have failed to impress.
Argentina are, of course, faring a lot better. They had their own string of poor performances, leading to the resignation of coach Alfio Basile in October.
However, recent events have quickly built up the team's confidence, and the optimism of its fans. National football legend Maradona took over as coach in November, and Argentina beat Scotland and France in friendlies before thrashing Venezuela.
Moreover, Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi - who was granted over the weekend the number 10 jersey that Maradona once wore himself - appeared to deliver one of his best-ever performances with the national team.
Many doubts had been cast in the football-crazy South American country about the talented striker's ability to perform under pressure and play with Argentina as well as he plays with Barcelona. But Messi appeared to rise to the challenge Saturday, well assisted by the likes of Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero.
"It's a pleasure to see Messi like this everyday. We should all leave the stadium, pay for another ticket and go in again," an excited Maradona said Saturday.
Paraguay - the lone leader in the region's qualifiers - are set to play the difficult Ecuador at high altitude in Quito, in an effort to recover from their defeat in Uruguay Saturday.
"(The defeat) does not change anything. We had not qualified before this game, and we obviously have not qualified now," said
Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino.
Also Wednesday,
Chile and Uruguay will seek to confirm their recent good form in Santiago.
On Tuesday in Puerto Ordaz, hosts Venezuela are set to play a Colombian side that revived over the weekend with a win over Bolivia.
Despite that recent slip-up, Paraguay will continue to lead the South American qualifiers whatever happens this week. They have 23 points from 11 games and a four-point lead over followers Argentina and Chile. Brazil are in fourth place on 18 units and Uruguay on 16.
In South America's World Cup qualifiers, each of the 10 sides plays each of the other nine teams at home and away. The top four win a place in the event. The fifth-placed team has a chance to advance through a play-off against a representative of the North, Central American and Caribbean region.
Following this week's games, the qualifiers are set to return in June.
