On CONMEBOL Matchday Three, Peru find themselves free, whereas Uruguay find themselves free on Matchday Four. Uruguay for one will be glad to have one open date with the absence of all-time leading scorer Diego Forlan to injury. In addition, Uruguay will be missing Abel Hernandez, Jorge Fucile, and Walter Gargano to injury, adding to the difficulty imposed by the suspension of Maxi Perreira. Uruguay will be facing Chile at home.
Ecuador is also feeling the pain. Both of their goalscorers from their opening win over Venezuela will be out against Paraguay through injury. Luis "Chucho" Benitez and Jaime Ayovi are joined in the injury ward by Segundo Castillo, though there is hope that Ayovi will be back in time to face Peru.
Chile will be missing a multitude of players for its clashes with Uruguay and Paraguay, both these were self-inflicted wounds. Jorge Valdivia, Jean Beasejour, Gonzalo Jara, Carlos Carmona, and Arturo Vidal have all been suspended by their coach for arriving late and drunk to a team function. Five domestic-based players replaced these mainstays in the Chilean squad.
Camilo Zuñiga will miss Colombia's home opener against Venezuela as he remains in Italy awaiting the birth of his child, so Colombia will have to pick up the slack. However, the appearances of Roberto Rosales, Franklin Lucena, and goal-scoring hero Fernando Amorebieta remain in doubt for the visiting Venezuelans as those players try to recuperate from injuries.
Even mighty Argentina have felt the pain recently as Angel di Maria has been left off their roster after tearing a thigh muscle in Real Madrid's latest match.
Predictions:
Matchday Three: Argentina defeat Bolivia, Uruguay defeat Chile, Venezuela defeat Colombia, Ecuador tie Paraguay
Matchday Three: Argentina defeat Bolivia, Uruguay defeat Chile, Venezuela defeat Colombia, Ecuador tie Paraguay
Matchday Four: Argentina defeat Colombia, Ecuador defeat Peru, Paraguay tie Chile, Venezuela defeat Bolivia
Argentina at Colombia 15:00 Barranquilla
Peru at Ecuador 15:00 Quito
Paraguay at Chile 17:30 Santiago
Bolivia at Venezuela 19:00 San Cristobal
Africa begins its qualification cycle this week with eleven two-legged home-and-away series to determine the final eleven teams in the CAF Second Round, which commences next June. In spite of the absences of star player McDonald Mariga (Real Sociedad) and Mike Baraza, Kenya will have enough to defeat Seychelles. Other lopsided victors will include Togo over Guinea-Bissau, Namibia over Djibouti, Mozambique over Comoros, Ethiopia over Somalia, Burundi over Lesotho, Congo DR over Swaziland, and Congo over Sao Tome and Principe.
More intriguing matchups include Madagascar against Equatorial Guinea, co-hosts of the 2012 African Cup of Nations. Equatorial Guinea managed a recent draw against Cameroon and thus are tipped as favorites. Tanzania and Chad are both on terrible runs of form, but Tanzania gets the nod after drawing Algeria home and away in 2012 Cup of Nations qualifying. Eritrea is also a goldmine for footballing talent, but the lack of government support dooms the development of the squad, so Rwanda will win.
Match Previews:
Squad Lists:
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