Last Thursday, South America saw a new round of matches towards the 2018 World Cup. In the most attractive fixtures, Brazil and Uruguay drew 2-2, and Argentina stole an away victory over Chile, 2-1. Brazil started aggressively, with Douglas Costa scoring just before the first minute into the match, and Renato Augusto doubled the difference in the 25th minute with a nice individual effort. However, just six minutes later, Edinson Cavani put a left-footed drive past Brazilian goalie Alisson, making it 2-1, and early in the second half, Luis Suárez levelled the score. Uruguay created the best goal opportunities after that, and Brazil was lucky to escape from defeat.
In Chile, the home team was surprised by Argentina, that was content to let Chile play and counterattack when possible.
In new head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi’s debut, Chile scored the opening goal six minutes into the game, as Felipe Gutiérrez headed a corner kick from Fabián Orellana. After scoring, Chile lost two players to injury before the 20th minute and Argentina took advantage from that levelling with a right-footed curling shot by Ángel di María then getting ahead with a low drive by Gabriel Mercado, after an unfortunate touch by Mauricio Isla, who was trying to dislodge Lionel Messi from possession inside Chile’s own box.
In the second half, Chile dominated the match, with sporadic counterattacks from Argentina, but it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat, though Chile’s performance was encouraging being Pizzi’s first match in charge.
In other results, Colombia defeated Bolivia in La Paz 3-2, Ecuador and Paraguay drew 2-2, same as Peru and Venezuela.
