Buenos Aires - Argentina and Uruguay are set to clash Wednesday in Montevideo with no room for mistakes: the winner is guaranteed a place in the 2010 World Cup, while the loser may well miss out on the major event in South Africa altogether. In South America's qualifiers, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile have already secured World Cup berths.
With only one round of play left, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador are still in the race for another definite place in the tournament, while the fifth-placed team will get another chance to qualify in a play-off against a team from North or Central America or the Caribbean.
Argentina currently have 25 points, Uruguay have 24 and Ecuador have 23. Venezuela trail on 21 and still have a chance of reaching the play-off, but it is very remote.
The winner of Uruguay-Argentina will come fourth in the qualifiers. The loser could be overtaken by Ecuador - if they in turn win their game in Chile - and be left empty-handed.
All sorts of combinations of results could land any of the three teams in or out of the World Cup, so they will all be expected to put on their best performances.
Moods may come into play. Uruguay managed an unlikely last-minute comeback win in Ecuador Saturday to stay in the race, while Argentina also needed an injury-time goal to beat the lowly Peru in Buenos Aires.
Argentine fans were in shock, faced with the evidence that their team is - for all its stars - lost on the pitch and cannot be trusted even at home and against the worst team in the qualifiers.
"Better not talk about play," the sports daily Ole said as it celebrated the 2-1 win against Peru.
The newspaper La Nacion defined the side coached by Diego Maradona as a team without a gram of character.
"This national team makes you die of fear," the daily Critica said.
And that is just the team that is set to fight for a World Cup berth against an optimistic Uruguay side led by Diego Forlan.
"The only result that will do for us Wednesday is a win, and we are going to go out to get it," warned Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez.
It was no wonder that the 60,000 tickets for Montevideo's Centenario stadium were selling like hotcakes.
Of course, Argentina will be fielding a star-studded side led by Lionel Messi. But that's hardly enough to frighten rivals these days. Argentine media have long stressed his poor performances in the national team shirt, and defined Saturday's match as "nothing new" in this sense.
"Messi was again as insignificant as ever in the national team," the daily Clarin said after the match against Peru.
"Messi is no Maradona, we know that. The problem is that in recent matches he is not even Messi," Ole said.
In an online poll, Clarin asked its readers whether the man that many regard as the best footballer in the world should be kept on the bench in Montevideo. And 60 per cent of those who voted said he should.
The third candidate to the remaining World Cup berth, Ecuador, was shattered by its home defeat against Uruguay at the weekend.
Ecuadorian media were already speaking of sadness at what they saw as an inevitable elimination. They blamed their team for its alleged lack of attitude, and they regarded a win against an in-form Chile in Santiago as virtually impossible.
The figures, however, say that Ecuador can still play in South Africa in 2010.
So can Venezuela, for that matter, although they would need Argentina to thrash Uruguay, Chile to defeat Ecuador and to thrash Brazil themselves by a most unlikely margin. Only then would they get the chance for a play-off, to keep dreaming of their first-ever World Cup.
