On January 28, local time, the Qatar World Cup South American qualifier competition entered a white-hot. In four key matches for qualifying places, Uruguay, led by Suarez, won 1-0 away to Paraguay in fifth place in the standings and remaining at risk of play-offs.
Ecuador continued to maintain its third place in a 1-1 draw at home to five-star Brazil, while Peru beat Colombia 1-0 away to score this crucial victory and reach the top four.
If the South American division can maintain this ranking to the end of the last three rounds, then Ecuador and Peru will directly qualify with Brazil and Argentina to advance to the World Cup, and Uruguay, who ranks fifth, will participate in the intercontinental play-offs.
The latest standings for the South American division
According to the Rules of the World Cup in South America, the top four teams will directly advance to the World Cup, and the fifth place will participate in the intercontinental play-offs.
At present, South America has lost 15 rounds, in addition to Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador after the round of draw with Brazil, to maintain the point advantage, with 24 points ranked third.
After a 1-0 win over Colombia in this round, Peru surpassed Colombia and Uruguay in points to reach the top four in South America.
Uruguay, in fifth place, scored a crucial goal by Suarez despite their victory in this round, were squeezed into fifth place in the table because of Peru's victory.
At present, Peru and Uruguay are only one point apart, and Uruguay's prospects for qualifying are still unclear in the face of the cruel facts about the number of direct qualifying places.
In the standings, Colombia and Chile both suffered defeats in this round.
Among them, Chile lost 1-2 at home to Argentina, which is absent from Messi. Di Maria and Lautaro have contributed to the Argentine team. With this victory, Argentina remained unbeaten in this World Preliminary Tournament, while continuing Scaloni's 28-game unbeaten record since taking office.
At present, there are still three rounds left in the South American division of the World Preliminary Round, and whether the Uruguayan team led by Suarez can land at the last minute has attracted much attention.
Depending on the allocation of seats at the World Cup, 2 tickets will be determined through the Intercontinental Play-offs. The Asian division has 4.5 World Cup qualifying places, with the remaining 0.5 places in addition to the top two of the two groups, which will be decided by the third place in the two groups, and the winner will participate in the intercontinental play-offs.
The Asian quarter-finals ended in this round of competition, Iran and South Korea ranked in the top two of Group A, locking in the World Cup tickets; Saudi Arabia and Japan ranked in the top two of Group B, of which Saudi Arabia has basically qualified, Japan and Australia are close in points, and Japan leads by 1 point. The two teams will compete for a direct qualifying spot in the final 3 rounds of the World Preliminary Rounds, with the other facing a play-off.
Once in the play-offs, both Australia and Japan will face a third place in Group A. For now, the opponent is likely to be the UAE, which ranks third in Group A.
After winning 0.5 places in the Asian division, the winning Asian team will face the fifth place in the South American division. According to the South American division table, Uruguay is currently in fifth place, which means that the final intercontinental play-off is likely to have Uruguay against Japan, or Uruguay against Australia.
Round of 12 latest standings in Group B
As a result, the final three rounds of the Asian group stage of the World Preliminary Round will become very important, especially japan and Australia in Group B, which will be in a fierce battle for the second direct qualifying place in Group B in the remaining rounds.
According to the schedule, the World Cup intercontinental play-offs will take place on June 13 this year.