Argentina qualified for their ninth successive World Cup with a sweet 3-1 defeat of arch-rival Brazil on Wednesday.
The Argentines joined Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea as the first nations to qualify for next year’s finals, along with host Germany, an automatic qualifier in the 32-nation field.
Two goals from striker Hernan Crespo led Argentina. Crespo scored in the third and 39th minutes, and Juan Roman Riquelme added another in the 18th in a showdown between the two powerhouses, winners of seven World Cup championships.
Roberto Carlos scored Brazil’s goal in the 71st minute.
Argentina, World Cup winners in 1978 and 1986, stretched their lead of the 10-team South American qualifying group to 31 points after 15 rounds, with defending champion Brazil second on 27 and Ecuador third with 23, followed by Paraguay at 22. Three rounds remain.
Also on Wednesday, Colombia rolled over visiting Ecuador 3-0, Paraguay bounced back at home from a heavy defeat to Brazil by pounding Bolivia 4-1, and hosts Chile held off Venezuela 2-1.
Argentina duped Brazil into believing they would cruise at Monumental Stadium in downtown Buenos Aires. After Brazil crushed Paraguay 4-1 on Sunday without Ronaldo, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said Brazil was ”99,9% qualified”, and Argentina played it up after a second-string side lost 2-0 in Ecuador. Even Maradona said Brazil was better.
But not when the game started. Three minutes later, Crespo sent a pass from Luis Gonzalez into the back of the Brazil net.
Playmaker Riquelme made it 2-0 in the 18th, swivelling to launch a left-footed blast from outside the area, then running over to Argentina’s bench to celebrate.
Argentina’s domination of the first half was underlined in the 39th minute, when Riquelme played a short pass off a corner kick to Javier Saviola, who sent a lofting chip pass that Crespo headed in for his seventh goal in 2006 qualifying.
Brazil shook off their shock and fought back in the second half, and Roberto Carlos bent a free kick in, but Adriano missed two chances in the final 15 minutes, one of them hitting the post.
Colombia were untroubled at Barranquilla, while Ecuador buckled in 40-degree-Celsius heat, coming down from altitude and its 2-0 upset of Argentina on Saturday.
Tressor Moreno scored two goals within the first nine minutes, and Martin Arzuaga completed the rout with another in the 70th.
Juan Pablo Angel set up the last two goals.
After crunching Peru 5-0 on Saturday, Colombia have scored eight goals without conceding any in four days, indicating the rapid turnaround in fortune under former under-20 coach Reinaldo Rueda, who was appointed in January. Since then, the team have won twice, drawn once and lost to Argentina 1-0 — but, more importantly, returned to qualifying contention.
Paraguay returned home to Asuncion from a 4-1 spanking to Brazil to hand out the same punishment to Bolivia.
Carlos Gamarra’s early header was quickly tied by Gonzalo Galindo’s 25m blast for Bolivia, but Roque Santa Cruz broke the deadlock, and Julio Cesar and Jorge Nunez completed the rout before 17 000 happy fans at Defensores del Chaco Stadium.
Chile stayed in the finals hunt and all but extinguished Venezuela’s hopes in a comfortable 2-1 win in Santiago.
Luis Jimenez scored both of Chile’s goals both sides of half-time, and Venezuela couldn’t score until Ruberth Moran’s header eight minutes from the end. — Sapa-AP