Argentina-Brazil Superclasico postponed by torrential rain

The road to Russian Federation is a long one – there are ten teams in the South America Conmebol qualification league and each will play 18 games – but the problems faced by both Argentina and Brazil means “there will be an unexpected sense of anxiety about Thursday’s meeting in El Monumental”, says Jonathan Wilson in The Guardian.

It was Argentina’s first goal in three World Cup qualifiers.

Brazilian daily Lance! ran a cover that said: “Tell me what you feel?”

The Ecuadorans are bidding to qualify for their second World Cup finals in a row after reaching the 2014 tournament in Brazil, where they were eliminated in the first round.

Argentina’s highly-anticipated 2018 World Cup qualifier against Brazil was postponed on Thursday because of torrential rain and is now scheduled for Friday. Quito’s elevation of 2,850 meters (9,350 feet) always makes it hard for visitors.

But Ecuador regained the lead only 10 minutes later however through an opportunistic strike from Martinez. He must sit out one more global match. And Bolivia doubled up Venezuela. Rodrigo Ramallo scored twice, Rudy Cardozo added another and Juan Carlos Arce converted a penalty. Bolivia has three points from three matches.

A second half strike from Santos player Lucas Lima salvaged a vital point for Brazil on Friday after Argentina had taken the lead midway through the half thanks to an Ezequiel Lavezzi strike.

The fixture was rearranged following flooding to the pitch in Buenos Aires earlier this week, however that hasn’t dampened the odds on Argentina to win the tie, with the hosts 6/4 with bet365.