I would Argue Argentina has 11 as Di Stefano is much more Argentine than Spanish. Also Sivori.

Isn’t Imbabura coached by that young guy that is like 27 years old or something?

Look, Messi should absolutely not win this award since he barely played any MLS matches.

But this sub is quickly turning into the equivalent of Instagram comments based on some of the comments I’m seeing.

This is an Instagram reel comment lol. I swear, it’s always a victim complex with y’all. Oh no, the upvote ratio! Who the fuck cares? Why the fuck do you care?

Also, is it that hard for you to accept that Messi has a very genuine case for being the greatest player of all time? Like, I would love to hear your case for why that’s an incorrect take.

I don’t think Tevez’s offside goal was really that impactful. Argentina won 3–1 and likely wins that match without the offside goal.

Plus Argentina got destroyed 4-0 in the next round to Germany, and no way Mexico was beating that Germany squad (the article mentions this).

It’s a competitive league where anyone can do well and anyone can struggle. How things should be?

I think that’s the beauty of it though. A World Cup campaign truly is a 4 year run/cycle here in South America.

It’s all so disgraceful. It was already essentially a lock, but this just confirms it a bit more. Indonesia isn’t in a position to host, but that’s not the point.

I don’t get how FIFA is going to allow this bid. FIFA had this rule to be able to host a bid: “hosts are required to have at least fourteen all-seater stadiums with a capacity of 40,000, with a minimum of seven being pre-existing.”

Saudi Arabia has 2 such pre-existing stadiums. They didn’t meet the requirement (the South American bid did). But of course FIFA suddenly decided to relax that rule for Saudi.

Imo, it would’ve been much more ethical for the South American countries to renovate a few existing stadiums that will continue to be used after the World Cup rather than allow/encourage Saudi to spend billions to build 10+ brand fucking new stadiums that will mostly sit empty after the cup.

Fuck FIFA and Saudi (and CONMEBOL for being fine with this shit).

Honestly, I would’ve been fine with 5 direct and 1 (or 2) playoff spots.

As for your second point, most of South America wants nothing to do with concacaf (me included). It would provide nothing to our region except for more money to the executives. It sure would help the top concacaf teams though.

Since the World Cup expanded to 32 teams (in 1998), CONMEBOL qualifiers have consisted of 18 match days in a round robin home and away format. Previously, the top 4 finishers qualified directly and the 5th place qualified to the playoff/repechaje. With the 2026 expansion, CONMEBOL slots increased to 6 direct and 1 playoff.

Here is some data regarding the 7th place finisher in every qualifier since 1998 (except for 1998 and 2014 as Brasil was auto-qualified as previous winner and host in those years and only 16 matches were played):

The average 7th place finish earned 21.2 points. The most points for a 7th place finish occurred in the 2018 edition by Paraguay with 24 points (GD of -3). The least amount of points for a 7th place finish occurred in the 2002 edition by Bolivia with 18 points (GD of -12).

Additionally, you can look at how many points it would’ve taken to tie the 8th place finisher - as you could advance with a goal difference above the 8th place finisher but with the same amount of points.

The average 8th place finish earned 18.4 points. The most points for an 8th place finish occurred in the 2010 edition with 22 points (GD of -6). The least points for an 8th place finish occurred in the 2002 and 2022 editions with 16 points (GD of -11 and -14 respectively in those years).

25 points would seem to be the goal to nearly ensure at least a playoff spot, but as low as 16 points could be enough in a cycle where the bottom teams struggle. Now obviously, mathematically these ranges could be much higher and lower.

One additional note for anyone interested: In the 1998 and 2014 qualifiers (16 matches without Brasil), the 6th and 7th place finishers averaged 1.28 and 1.13 points per match. Compared to 1.18 and 1.02 points per match from 7th and 8th place finishers respectively in “normal” 18 match qualifying cycles.

In terms of results (not need necessarily quality of play), I give the following grades for this match day: -US grading system because I just got citizenship recently-

Argentina: B - Expected win

Brasil: D (possibly F) - Tie at home against Venezuela is essentially a loss for Brasil

Colombia: C - Very winnable match, should’ve put the match away multiple times.

Uruguay: B - stole a point in a match where they struggled. Getting a point in Colombia is never a bad result. Despite the struggle, it maybe was the justified result given the handball goal for Colombia.

Chile: A - Needed 3 points in a home match against a beatable opponent and got it done. Also, it’s a clásico.

Venezuela: A - Historic result in Brasil

Ecuador: A - Despite subpar quality, 3 points at altitude is always an excellent result.

Paraguay: C - Although a loss was expected, they never seemed to threaten. Must win at home vs Bolivia on Tuesday.

Peru: D - Lost a clásico. Looking like their November window will be extremely important (at Bolivia, vs Venezuela).

Bolivia: F - Lost at home against an unusually poor Ecuadorian side. Failed to take advantage of the uncharacteristic performance by Ecuador. Didn’t even salvage a point.

Argentina’s last home loss was 7* years ago yesterday

Argentina’s last home loss was 7* years ago yesterday

I literally don’t want the matches to end. Usually I would be screaming for the ref to end the match to secure the 3 points. Shows how good this squad is. I love this team so much.

Since the World Cup expanded to 32 teams (in 1998), CONMEBOL qualifiers have consisted of 18 match days in a round robin home and away format. Previously, the top 4 finishers qualified directly and the 5th place qualified to the playoff/repechaje. With the 2026 expansion, CONMEBOL slots increased to 6 automatic and 1 playoff.

Here is some data regarding the 7th place finisher in every qualifier since 1998 (except for 1998 and 2014 as Brasil was auto-qualified as previous winner and host and only 16 matches were played):

The average 7th place finish earned 21.2 points. The most points for a 7th place finish occurred in the 2018 edition by Paraguay with 24 points (GD of -3). The least amount of points for a 7th place finish occurred in the 2002 edition by Bolivia with 18 points (GD of -12).

Additionally, you can look at how many points it would’ve taken to tie the 8th place finisher - as you could advance with a goal difference above the 8th place finisher but with the same amount of points.

The average 8th place finish earned 18.4 points. The most points for an 8th place finish occurred in the 2010 edition with 22 points (GD of -6). The least points for an 8th place finish occurred in the 2002 and 2022 editions with 16 points (GD of -11 and -14 respectively in those years).

25 points would seem to be the guarantee for at least a playoff spot, but as low as 16 could be enough in a cycle where the bottom teams struggle.

One additional note for anyone interested: In the 1998 and 2014 qualifiers (16 matches without Brasil), the 6th and 7th place finishers averaged 1.28 and 1.13 points per match. Compared to 1.18 and 1.02 points per match from 7th and 8th place finishers respectively in “normal” 18 match qualifying cycles.

In terms of results (not quality of play), I give the following grades for this match day: -US grading system because I just got citizenship recently-

Argentina: B - Expected win

Brasil: D (possibly F) - Tie at home against Venezuela is essentially a loss for Brasil

Colombia: C - Very winnable match, should’ve put the match away multiple times.

Uruguay: B - stole a point in a match where they struggled. Getting a point in Colombia is never a bad result. Maybe was the justified result given the handball goal for Colombia.

Chile: A - Needed 3 points in a home match against a beatable opponent. Also, it’s a clásico.

Venezuela: A - Historic result in Brasil

Ecuador: A - Despite subpar quality, 3 points at altitude is always an excellent result.

Paraguay: C - Although a loss was expected, they never seemed to threaten. Must win at home vs Bolivia on Tuesday.

Peru: D - Lost a clásico. Looking like their November window will be extremely important (at Bolivia, vs Venezuela).

Bolivia: F - Lost at home against an unusually poor Ecuadorian side. Didn’t even salvage a point.

Gotta be a handball and disallowed right??

I know it wasn’t on the one who scored, but that handball affected the play so much.

Handball goal was bullshit but Colombia is clearly better.