File picture of Argentina’s Marcos Rojo (R) gesturing at the end of their Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup South American Qualifiers football match against Brazil, in Buenos Aires.

DPA/Buenos Aires


Argentina are travelling to Colombia for a difficult fourth-round match in the South American qualifiers today, still without Lionel Messi as they seek their first win en route to Russia 2018, while Ecuador visit the lowly Venezuela and hesitant Brazil host Peru.
The South American qualifiers, with 10 participants who all play each other at home and away, grant four direct berths in Russia 2018, plus a play-off against a team from Oceania for the fifth-placed country.
After three rounds of play, Ecuador top the standings with a perfect score of nine points, Chile have seven and Uruguay are on six. Brazil, Paraguay and Colombia have four, while Peru and Bolivia have three. Argentina are on just two points, while Venezuela have none.
Argentina - runners-up in both the 2014 World Cup and the Copa America that ended in July - are clearly struggling. They lost at home to Ecuador and drew against Paraguay in Asuncion and against Brazil in Buenos Aires. They appear to have lost confidence in their game.
Still without Messi and without world-class strikers Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez, they need to redress course fast, preferably in their next match. That would make the wait until the South American qualifiers return in March calmer for the players and their football-crazy fans at home.
“We need to win in Colombia,” Argentina coach Gerardo Martino admitted last week.
Although his side played well Friday against their arch-rivals Brazil and probably deserved more than the 1-1 they got, Martino and his men agree that results are of the essence, and that they need to get three points in Barranquilla.
However, Colombia do not look like an easy rival after grabbing a point against South American champions Chile in Santiago.
Brazil are under fire after a lacklustre performance in Argentina and also need to do better against Peru, at home in Salvador.
Fans were particularly hard on defender David Luiz for getting sent off against Argentina. However, they recognise that football giants Brazil are far from their prime more generally, after the humiliating 7-1 defeat against Germany in the World Cup semi-finals, a quarter-finals exit at the Copa America and just one win in the qualifiers so far.
“Brazil have not won two matches in a row in official games since 2013,” sports reporter Pedro Ivo Almeida wrote in the news portal UOL on Saturday.
Ecuador are the unlikely leaders of the South American qualifiers so far, with a perfect score after three games. Venezuela, who have lost their three matches so far, seem like a lesser rival for a side who have already beaten Argentina and Uruguay.
However, away in Puerto Ordaz, Ecuador will be without their first-choice keeper Alexander Dominguez and starting defender Gabriel Achilier, both of them suspended, which might make things harder.
Uruguay host Chile in a symbolically charged game in Montevideo.  Chile eliminated Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the Copa America, in a controversial game in which Edinson Cavani was sent off after being provoked by Chile’s Gonzalo Jara. Uruguay’s players and coach Oscar Tabarez want to look ahead, however.
“I don’t like to talk about revenge. This is not a decisive game or a final, but it is very important for our goals,” said captain Diego Godin.
This is likely to be Uruguay’s last match without their superstar Luis Suarez, as it completes the nine-game ban the striker was handed for biting an opponent during the 2014 World Cup. Beyond the result, that in itself will make this fourth qualifier a positive event for the hosts.
Paraguay and Bolivia were clashing in Asuncion in a game that is crucial for both sides’ aspirations of returning to a World Cup in Russia.