He goes to the World Cup, like to receive the Nobel Prize, in a tuxedo; you go to the eliminator with a combat uniform. It is a war without death, but fascinating, the one that ignites the most passions of South American tournaments due to the exceptional atmosphere of each match. If selections in themselves activate a sense of belonging, qualifiers sharpen nationalisms, they disempower them. Hymns also help, hands go to the chest… They look like dueling countries.
The World Cup is like a field trip for high school graduates; a qualifying round is a race that must be taken to get a ticket. Reward and previous effort. And parties are subjects that must be passed in order to graduate. The first two final exams are coming. From today we will start to see who studied and who needs to improve. Those who achieve up to the sixth best average will receive a diploma. The seventh will have to take an additional exam, that purgatory that is the rematch.
He used to be very brave. Every trip abroad meant a man’s adventure; you had to have style and courage to get the result of visitors. Trouble was the wind hitting you in the face. From the road to climate factors, there was a lot of pressure and aggression. It was normal to find the field in a terrible state… Or simply a Creole mischief appeared: the dressing room was doused with kerosene, the door was broken, the bus had to pass between the home fans, newspapers published inflammatory headlines. And the rest of the grass… “They changed your ball, put a lighter one, wet the pitch…”, the unforgettable Luis Cubilla, the great Uruguayan striker, told us. Fans shouted at you, threw things, went to hotels to bother you. To deconcentrate the opponent, they flooded the dressing rooms, put him on the massage table… He would lie down, the itch would catch you without you even realizing it, and then you would scratch the whole game. There were all kinds of tricks. Now everything is much different, cleaner”.
Advanced Centuries Football Organization. You win in the box, not outside it. However, the tension remains. Today, the qualifying rounds are calmer and more predictable, there is less cheating and more guarantees, television is a rigorous prosecutor that shows everything, the regulations are stricter. The visitor is protected. Winning abroad is no longer forbidden to anyone; It’s not even dangerous. On the afternoon of Colombia’s historic 5-0 drubbing in Buenos Aires in 1993, the Argentinian public, always fearful of its fanaticism—and still hurt by the dance—ended up applauding the brilliant team that Pacho High school graduation. A true fan knows how to recognize. Wbeimar Muñoz, a prestigious radio commentator, told a beautiful anecdote from that day that went down in football annals: “After the match ended, we extended the broadcast for hours, and late at night we went to dinner with Édgar Perea, Hernán Peláez and Marco Antonio Bustos in Corrientes Street, full of restaurants. We went straight from the River Stadium and we were wearing orange logo shirts Snail in front and the word ‘Colombia’ behind. We entered Arturito, half a block from the Obelisk. I was full; people immediately recognized us as Colombians, stood up at all the tables and started clapping for us. At first we didn’t understand what was happening, it’s that we are not used to these things that generate great triumphs. We feel enormous pride. It was so exciting that we burst into tears.” It was a reward for a lifetime of wandering after a ball with a microphone or a typewriter.
That rough beauty of the tie also has to do with the tradition of continental football, its rivalries and equality; everyone wins or deducts points. Some are less strong than others, but there is no Cyprus, Malta or Andorra. It has the power to change the mood in South America. To make millions of people happy, angry, sad or excited. The mood moves to the rhythm of the results. The choice won, happy. Lost, angry, bitter. The best sample, the most sympathetic, we saved from the Paraguayan press in 2016, which harshly criticized La Albirroja when it was eliminated in the Copa América in the United States, with headlines like “Shame”, “Tocamos bottom” and other style. The next match, already for the qualifiers for Russia 2018, Paraguay beat Chile 2-1 and important newspapers ABC color titled on the cover, sweetly: “Claw, love and heart!”. There are no grays.
Until the 90s, everything was more civilized. Or more regulated and better controlled. And now, definitely, even more transparent. He who has arguments to win can do so anywhere. The only irrelevance, as always, is the referees. In the past qualifications, for Qatar, there were several serious mistakes, even with VAR.
Mbappé said: “Argentina and Brazil do not play matches at a high level to reach the World Cup. Football is not as advanced as in Europe”. And the Indian that we South Americans carry inside us woke up. César Luis Menotti angrily replied: “Let Mbappé come to play against Chacarita, let’s see how he does…”. Because of the distance, the French striker may not know what the South American connection is, playing at the height of La Paz, in the damp numbness of Barranquilla, neglecting what it is like to be a visitor at La Bombonera, facing the Ecuadorian physical biotype in Quito, having to often fight against Brazil in Rio or Sao Paulo, run into Uruguayan defenders…
The European connection is infinitely easier than ours. UEFA has 55 members and 16 meet the requirements. They have plenty of room; for this reason, they never put two big ones together in a group. France could cross paths with Romania, Gibraltar, San Marino and Macedonia. One chocolate ice cream. Even Venezuela is dangerous here. The difference is optics, political and media power, Eurocentric prism. If Messi scores five goals for Venezuela, “he didn’t play against anyone”; If Cristiano Ronaldo scores five against Cyprus, “he is a competitive animal”.
Neither the Copa América, nor the World Cup, nor the Libertadores, nor the Champions League, nor any football competition reaches the level of tension of the tie, the only tournament that does not determine the champion. He doesn’t award titles, but he puts the continent on edge, stretching it like a rope to the end. It is a chest that opens and distributes joy or disappointment, there is no gray. The World Cup is more of a party; relationship is drama, fear of being left out. Whoever does not go to the World Cup feels like the last in the class. Then, even if it gets lost, the satisfaction of having been there remains.
This will be the nineteenth South American game. It started in 1954. Before that there was none because the national teams were invited to the World Cup. Some even gave up on the call. Once again, the race promises to be equal to the meridians. There is no Kosovo and Luxembourg here: everyone is in a position to win and lose everyone. That’s why it’s the hardest tie in the world. And the most exciting.
Of the last ten world championships, Argentina and Brazil participated in 10, Uruguay 7, Colombia and Paraguay 5, Ecuador 4, Chile 3, Peru and Bolivia 1; Venezuela is still a virgin. So after almost four decades, the top three and bottom three are still the same. And now…? Now God knows. (D)
South American qualifiers 2026
Source: Eluniverso
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
