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5:17
The final stretch of the South American Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup begins
This Thursday, January 27 and Friday, January 28, the matches corresponding to matchday 15 of the Qualifiers of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) for the Qatar World Cup this year will be played.
It should be noted that in addition to this, there are three other dates left to complete the qualifiers for the World Cup in this area of the planet.
In total there are 10 teams and so far the only ones that already have the quota in Qatar are Brazil and Argentina, however, even the remaining eight have the opportunity to qualify.
It should be noted that only four direct quotas are granted for South American teams and the team that achieves fifth place must go to a single intercontinental playoff match against a team from the Asian Confederation (AFC). Whoever wins this match qualifies.
Below is the information on the matches by time and date:
Meetings on Thursday, January 27
The first meeting to be held this day is Ecuador vs. Brazil. Ecuador is in third position at the moment and depends on its performance in these four dates to qualify.
They have 23 points, however, Brazil have 35 and will surely be dedicated to maintaining their lead in the tournament as they are undefeated in these qualifiers.
This match will take place at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado Stadium in Quito, Ecuador at 4:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. Venezuela's time). The referee in charge is the Colombian Wilmar Roldán.
It should be noted that Ecuador arrives with three games with a clean sheet (2 wins and 1 draw), while Brazil has a great streak of 30 Qualifying games without losing (23 wins and 7 draws) and is one to match the record that the same Brazilians achieved between the years 1954 and 1993 (24 wins and 7 draws).
The next confrontation is Paraguay vs. Uruguay, which will take place at the Gral. Pablo Rojas stadium in Asunción, Paraguay, at 8:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. Venezuela's time).
The appointed referee is the Argentine Darío Herrera. This is Uruguay's first match without 'Maestro' Tabárez, as technical director Diego Alonso takes his place. The Uruguayans are in 7th place with 16 points.
Similarly, the Paraguayan team is in ninth place in the standings with 13 points. An outstanding fact is that between fourth and ninth place there are only four points of difference.
On the other hand, until this date 15, the "Celeste" has not lost against Paraguay in its last six matches in Qualifiers (3 wins and 3 draws), while a statistic in favor of Paraguay is that, as a local, he has always marked Uruguay (5 wins, a draw and a loss).
The last game this Thursday is Chile vs. Argentina, which will take place at the Zorros' del Desierto Stadium in Calama, Chile, at 9:15 p.m. local time (8:15 p.m. Venezuela's time). The responsible referee is the Brazilian Anderson Daronco.
The Chileans are sixth with 16 points, the same points as Uruguay. They share the statistic that in the finals of the recent editions of the Copa América they have defeated the 'Albiceleste', however, in the Qualifiers it is the opposite.
Argentina is second and already has the ticket to Qatar, in addition, in 15 qualifying matches against Chile it has only lost one and that was when Chile, at home, in October 2008 beat it with a final score of 1-0.
Argentina has won 10 and tied 4. It is already confirmed that Lionel Messi will not play on the 15th and 16th due to his recovery from COVID-19.
Meetings on Friday, January 28
Colombia vs. Peru is the first match of this day and will take place at 4:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. Venezuela's time). The Metropolitan Stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, is the chosen to set and the referee in charge will be the Venezuelan Jesús Valenzuela.
It should be noted that it will be one of the most exciting matches of the date, since they are direct rivals. Both teams have 17 points. Colombia fourth and Peru fifth on goal difference.
To date, Colombia have not lost in their last nine games against Peru in Qualifiers (7 wins and 2 draws) and these victories were achieved without conceding goals. The 'coffee' team has also drawn their last three games without goals. While Peru has won its last two Qualifying matches.
The last confrontation of the CONMEBOL Qualifiers date 15 is Venezuela vs. Bolivia, which will take place at the Agustín Tovar stadium in Barinas, Venezuela, at 6:00 p.m. Venezuelan time. The assigned referee is the Ecuadorian Guillermo Guerrero.
It should be noted that the 'Vinotinto' is last in the classification with only 7 points, but Bolivia is eighth with 15 units.
This will be José Néstor Pekerman's first game as coach of Venezuela, which has raised the hopes of the team, although it will not be an easy task in the absence of three dates, in addition to this one.
To date, on the one hand, Venezuela has just won its last five home matches against Bolivia in the Qualifiers, but, under the previous coach in this edition of the Qualifiers, it lost seven games and won only one against Ecuador.
Likewise, Bolivia, in their last four qualifying games, had 3 wins and one loss, the latter against Peru with a score of 0-3.
