In their first matches in almost a year, Argentina and Uruguay won their South American World Cup qualifying openers without doing much to impress their fans watching from home.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez each scored from the spot, but did little else to energize the empty stadiums of a region still hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Messi netted the only goal of Argentina’s victory over Ecuador at the La Bombonera stadium, while Suárez opened the scoring in Uruguay’s 2-1 last-minute win over Chile in Montevideo. Paraguay was held to a 2-2 draw by Peru on Thursday.
The rest of the opening games in South American qualifiers for Qatar 2022 will be completed on Friday, when Brazil, possibly without Neymar, hosts Bolivia and James Rodriguez’ Colombia plays against Venezuela. All 10 teams will be on again on Tuesday.
South America will have four direct berths in the next World Cup. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia, in that order, start as favorites for those spots. The fifth-best team can earn qualification through an intercontinental playoff, with Peru and Chile as strong contenders. The qualifying phase ends in March 2022.