2026 World Cup qualifiers already underway in South America
By Kevin Flores
It has not been a full year since Argentina lifted the World Cup in Qatar and qualification has already begun in South America. Considered the hardest qualification due to the diverse climate across the continent. For example La Paz, Bolivia is above 11,000 ft making it very difficult to play due to the high altitude, In Quito, Ecuador the altitude is above 9,000 ft also making it a very difficult place to go play away, Barranquilla, Colombia does not have a stadium above the clouds but it share has one intense heat wave. Temperatures in Barranquilla can reach as high as 96 degrees Fahrenheit and the yearly long average temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, opposition teams can easily succumb to the intense heat and could suffocate to Colombia’s heat stroking attacks. Match-week 1 and 2 were played September 7th and September 12th. All games were very contested, the only game where we saw a high scoring difference was in Brazil 5-1 Bolívia played in Rio de janeiro. Which was not a surprise to many as Bolivia is the worst away team in the history of the Qualifiers not winning an away game since 1993. Argentina suffered to beat Ecuador at home relying on a brilliant Messi free kick to win the game. And in the next match week Brazil narrowly beat Peru away 0-1 in which the Peruvian team was able to neutralize Brazil but it wasn’t enough for a draw. And VAR ruined Chilean celebrations as they were denied a winning goal in the last minutes of play against Colombia.
Some students have had their take on the qualifiers Senior Ernesto Landaverde had his take on the difficulty of the qualifiers “I feel it’s the hardest qualifying process because they play against the same teams twice and they already know a lot about their opponents and look for anyway on trying to outsmart them” followed up when asked how do you think the final table results will look like? Ernesto responded with “Brazil and Argentina are practically already qualified, I believe third will go to Uruguay and fourth to Ecuador, between fifth place and the playoff spot seventh place it can be anyone’s pick” furthermore Senior Alex Salguero when asked Which country is the most likely underdog to do really well? “ Ecuador, they have always been very underrated and I think they could get third place in the table despite starting with -3 points”
If anyone is interested in watching the South American Qualifiers the next matches will be played on October 12th and October 17th you can stream these games via subscription to Fanatiz, Vix sports.
