Uruguay, Peru hope to seal World Cup passage as Chile, Colombia fates look dire

Brazil and Argentina crossed the line long ago in South America’s World Cup qualifiers, and have guaranteed their place in Qatar. Barring a mathematical mishap, Ecuador will also soon join them. It is certainly possible to imagine two sides managing to catch up with Ecuador’s total of 25 points in the coming final two rounds. But at least one of those teams would also have to overhaul a goal difference of more than 10 goals in Ecuador’s favour.

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Certainly Ecuador would seem to be behaving like a team that has already qualified. This Thursday they travel to face Paraguay. In next Tuesday’s last round they are at home to Argentina — but have chosen to play the match at Guayaquil, sea level, rather than at the altitude of their usual mountain fortress in Quito. The message coming out of Ecuador, then, is that rather than scrambling around for points to ensure their presence in Qatar, they are already preparing for the World Cup.

That leaves two slots available — one automatic qualifying place, and the play-off position for the side finishing fifth, who will meet Asia’s representative in June. With one hand on the calculator and the other on the phone number of the cardiologist, four nations are competing for these two slots — in various degrees of desperation. The worst case is that of Colombia. They have not scored for an astonishing seven games — an almost inconceivable succession of attacking failure from a team with plenty of talent.

That run should surely come to an end on Thursday at home to Bolivia. This match is usually the ‘home banker.’ Bolivia pick up almost all of their points at home at the extreme altitude of La Paz. They are notoriously weak on…