- Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela claim important victories
- Ecuador recorded a record-breaking win over Colombia
- Read quotes, stats and trivia from the matches
Tuesday’s results
Ecuador 6-1 Colombia
Venezuela 2-1 Chile
Uruguay 0-2 Brazil
Paraguay 2-2 Bolivia
Peru 0-2 Argentina
Scroll down for trivia, stats, quotes and more about each game.
Peru 0-2 Argentina
Nicolas Gonzalez and Lautaro Martinez earned Argentina a 2-0 win away to Peru that lifted them on to ten points from a possible 12 in Qatar 2022 qualifying.
Gonzalez made it two goals in as many internationals after 16 minutes, while Martinez collected a sumptuous Leandro Paredes through-ball, rounded the goalkeeper and slid the ball into the empty net soon afterwards.
Lionel Messi was at his mercurial best in the second half, but he couldn’t get the goal his play deserved. Argentina, nonetheless, will be delighted with victory in a country in which they have struggled.
Quotes
Lionel Messi: “We’re very happy with the victory. We needed it after the other day. From the outset we played a great game. We created many, many chances and the goals came. Little by little we are getting strong as a group.”
Lautaro Martinez: “I think we played really good football and we’re really happy. Against Paraguay, individually, I didn’t play a good game. Today I had to put that right.”
- Did you know?
- Lionel Messi made his 142nd Argentina appearance and equals Cafu as South America’s fifth most-capped international behind Javier Zanetti (143), Javier Mascherano (147), Paulo da Silva (148) and Ivan Hurtado (168).
- Martinez has now scored 11 goals in 21 internationals.
- Peru have now faced Lionel Messi six times in World Cup qualifying and, surprisingly, prevented him scoring on every occasion.
- Argentina have still not lost any match away to Peru in 35 years. Juan Carlos Oblitas secured La Blanquirroja a defeat of La Albiceleste in a Mexico 1986 preliminary. It left Peru requiring victory in Buenos Aires to reach their fourth World Cup in five attempts, and they were nine minutes away from getting it until Ricardo Gareca bundled home an equaliser to snatch Argentina a ticket to the finals. ‘El Tigre’ was duly left out of the Argentinians’ squad, and they went on to become champions at the Azteca.
World Cup qualifying head-to-head record:
10 Argentina wins; 7 draws; 2 Peru wins
Uruguay 0-2 Brazil
Arthur and Richarlison got the goals as Brazil won 2-0 in Uruguay to make it 12 points from a possible 12 in Qatar 2022 qualifying. Uruguay remain on six points and are set to lose Edinson Cavani to suspension after he was sent off in the second half for a stamp on Richarlison.
Darwin Nunez smashed Ederson’s bar as La Celeste made a fast start, but A Seleção took command as the half wore on and got their reward after 34 minutes. Following fine work from Danilo and Gabriel Jesus, Arthur, only playing because Allan wasn’t fully fit, found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Tite’s troops were 2-0 up before the break, a superb Renan Lodi cross firmly headed into the bottom corner by Richarlison.
Gabriel Jesus tormented the opposition defence in the second half, but Brazil couldn’t amplify their advantage. The frustrated Uruguayans, for their part, picked up a series of yellow cards and a red that could cost them dearly.
Quotes
Thiago Silva: “We’re delighted. We were without some key players – and our key player, Neymar – but we managed to put in a very good performance and win. It’s always tough to beat Uruguay. Even though they were without Suarez, an outstanding striker, we’re very pleased to keep another clean sheet. I believe you need to be solid defensively to win titles.”
Richarlison on his goal: “That’s not my position. My position is to attack the first post, but I happened to score a goal like that in training and I said to myself, ‘If it worked in training, this is what I’m going to do.’”
Did you know?
- Brazil have made their best start to a qualifying campaign in 51 years. With Tostao and Pele running riot, they won all six preliminaires for Mexico 1970.
- Arthur scored his first goal for Brazil in what was his 21st appearance.
- Thiago Silva made his 93rd international appearance to tie Gilberto Silva as Brazil’s 12th most-capped player.
- Brazil are unbeaten in World Cup qualifying since Tite took charge in 2016, winning 14 and drawing two of 16 games, scoring 42 goals and conceding just five in the process.
- Oscar Tabarez has never tasted victory against Brazil since taking the Uruguay reins, losing seven and drawing two.
World Cup qualifying head-to-head record:
5 Brazil wins; 5 draws; 1 Uruguay win
Paraguay 2-2 Bolivia
Bolivia eked out a 2-2 draw in Asuncion to get their first point in Qatar 2022 qualifying and wound Paraguay’s hopes. La Albirroja dominated the game but were unable to take their chances.
Angel Romero won and converted an 19th-minute penalty to put Paraguay ahead, and almost doubled the lead moments later. However, Bolivia scored twice shortly before half-time, through Marcelo Martins and Boris Cespedes, to go in ahead.
Paraguay threw everything at their visitors in the second half. After having one goal disallowed, Kaku equalised but they were unable to find a winner and will be disappointed, despite remaining unbeaten, to only be on six points after four rounds.
Quotes
Oscar Romero: “We had so much possession. We were better on the ball, but we weren’t able to take our chances. We must maintain our concentration for 90 minutes.”
Eduardo Berizzo: “Easy opponents don’t exist in these qualifiers. Let’s learn from what happened today. We have to be able to overcome these difficulties.”
Did you know?
- Bolivia avoided defeat in a World Cup qualifier away to Paraguay for the first time at the tenth attempt.
- Marcelo Martins became Bolivia’s outright-record, 21-goal marksman, outranking Joaquin Botero.
- Juan Carlos Arce netted his 12th international goal last time out. The 35-year-old requires one more to go joint-seventh on Bolivia’s all-time leading marksmen alongside two national legends: Maximo Alcocer and Marco Etcheverry.
World Cup qualifying head-to-head record:
10 Paraguay wins; 5 Bolivia wins; 4 draws
Top scorers in South American qualifying for Qatar 2022
Ecuador 6-1 Colombia
Ecuador produced a blistering first-half performance en route to a 6-1 victory over Colombia that powered them on to nine points from the first four rounds. Their opponents, meanwhile, remained on four and are now nursing back-to-back defeats in which they’ve conceded nine goals.
Robert Arboleda, Angel Mena, Michael Estrada and Xavier Arreaga – aided by a series of defensive errors – had La Tri 4-0 up inside 40 minutes, and Cafeteros coach Carlos Queiroz reacted by making four substitutions before half-time. Colombia did pull one back before the break, Duvan Zapata winning a penalty which James Rodriguez stroked home off the inside of the post.
The 29-year-old Everton playmaker did his best to cut the deficit even further at the start of the second half, but Colombia continued making defensive errors, with Estrada failing to capitalise on one. The Toluca forward did have the ball in the net after 74 minutes, but it was ruled offside.
Gonzalo Plata made it 5-1 in fine style and though he collected a second yellow card for his goal celebration, it failed to stop Ecuador amplifying the victory through Pervis Estupinan. A magical international break for Gustavo Alfaro’s side was complete.
Quotes
Gustavo Alfaro: “Ecuador have so many players with great potential. I have a squad with sufficient pedigree to match any national team around.”
Michael Estrada: “We knew that Colombia were dejected because of what happened in Uruguay. We capitalised with our fast-paced game and got the victory.”
Did you know?
- Ecuador equalled their biggest-ever victory in World Cup qualifying. A hat-trick from Eduardo ‘The Tank’ Hurtado inspired a 5-0 thumping of Venezuela in 1993.
- Ecuador smashed their record victory over Colombia in World Cup qualifying. They had never previously won by more than two goals.
- La Tri ended a four-game losing run against Los Cafeteros in all matches.
- Arboleda’s goal was his first for Ecuador in almost four years.
- Two goals was the most Ecuador had previously ever scored in a World Cup qualifier against Colombia – a figure they took less than 40 minutes to double.
- In his 80th international, Rodriguez scored his 23rd goal, leaving him just two shy of second-placed Arnoldo Iguaran on Colombia’s all-time leading marksmen.
- Ten yellow cards were handed out.
- Last month, in a 4-2 victory over Uruguay, at the age of 18 years and 347 days, Moises Caicedo became the first player born in the 21st century to score in World Cup qualifying. It made the midfielder the fifth-youngest player in history to score in the South American qualifiers and the youngest Ecuadorian, breaking Antonio Valencia’s record.
World Cup qualifying head-to-head record:
8 Colombia wins; 6 draws; 5 Ecuador wins
Leading all-time scorers in CONMEBOL qualifying
Venezuela 2-1 Chile
Salomon Rondon headed home a late winner against Chile to get Venezuela their first points on the board in Qatar 2022 qualifying. La Vinotinto had the best of a first half that finished 1-1, but La Roja had been looking the more likely to grab victory when the 31-year-old turned in an excellent Yeferson Soteldo cross.
Darwin Machis was involved in everything in the early stages, and he helped set up the opener for Luis Mago. The in-form Arturo Vidal quickly equalised, but Chile will have been relieved to go in at the interval all square.
Reinaldo Rueda’s charges were much better in the second half, with Alexis Sanchez producing some breath-taking touches, but ultimately were caught on the break and remain on four points from four outings.
Did you know?
- Vidal went joint-top of the scoring chart in South American qualifying alongside Angel Romero and Luis Suarez (see full leaderboard below).
- The 33-year-old midfielder moved on to 32 international goals, leaving him just two behind fourth-placed Ivan Zamorano on Chile’s list of all-time leading scorers.
- Twenty-six caps is what Wuilker Farinez reached today at the age of just 22 – an incredibly rare occurrence for a goalkeeper. He stands at just 1.75m tall – again very unusual for a player of his position – and became the first goalkeeper to score at a FIFA U-20 World Cup™ at Korea Republic 2017.
- It was Venezuela’s first-ever home win over Chile in World Cup qualifying.
World Cup qualifying head-to-head record:
11 Chile wins; 2 draws; 2 Venezuela wins
World Cup participations
South America’s top international scorers
FIFA.com exclusives
Social media
