Performance of South American teams Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup
Participation of South American teams in the World Cups has always been very important and much anticipated. In the very first World Cup in 1930, out of the total 13 teams in the tournament, 7 belonged to the continent of South America. In the 2010 World Cup, there were a total of 5 South American teams, all of whom were successful in progressing through to the second stage of the tournament; it was the first time ever that all the participating teams of a continent succeeded in doing so.
Paraguay were being considered as outsiders for progressing through Group F, which featured the defending champions Italy, in addition to Slovakia and New Zealand. Italy opened the defence of their title against Paraguay and were left stunned when Paraguay took a shock lead before the first half ended (Antolin Alcaraz); however, the Paraguayans were denied victory when Italy levelled the score-line with a quarter of the match left. Paraguay took a giant step towards qualification for the knockout stage when they defeated Slovakia in their second match with goals on either side of the interval (by Enrique Vera and Christian Riveros). A goalless draw with New Zealand and Italy’s humiliating exit from the tournament gave Paraguay a deserving top spot in the group. In the Round of 16, Paraguay played their second consecutive goalless match against Japan, where they progressed on the penalty shootout (which they won 5-3). Their run was, however, halted in by the eventual champions Spain in the quarterfinals.
Chile had qualified for the 2010 World Cup just at second position ahead of Argentina and a point behind Brazil. They had a strong enough team to pose a challenge for progressing through Group H and they did the same. They won their first two group match against Honduras and Switzerland by 1-0 (Jean Beausejour and Mark Gonzales being the goal-scorers in the two matches respectively) before they lost to Spain 2-1 in the final group match. This defeat meant they had finished second on the group table with inferior goal difference to Spain, and faced their fellow South American team Brazil in the Round of 16. Brazil proved to be too strong for Chile and they lost 3-0.
Brazil started the tournament among the title favourites as usual. They faced stiff test from the minnows North Korea in the opening Group G (dubbed the Group of Death) match, but managed to get a 2-1 victory. Their second consecutive victory of the group against Ivory Coast confirmed their qualification for the second stage and a goalless draw against Portugal gave them the first position in the group. Brazil brushed aside Chile 3-0 (thanks to goals from Juan, Luis Fabiano and Robinho) in the Round of 16 before suffering a rather shock 2-1 defeat against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Brazil had taken the lead in only the 10th minute but the Dutch resilience gave them two second half goals to turn around the tie and send the Brazilians packing.
Argentina clearly had the best attacking players in their squad as compared to any of their rivals. However, they did not have a very easy start as they could only get a 1-0 victory over Nigeria in the opening Group B match. An easier victory followed with 4-1 score-line over South Korea, and they completed the hat-trick with a 2-0 win over Greece in the last group match. Argentina faced Mexico in the Round of 16 were a controversial goal from Carlos Tevez gave them the lead and they progressed through to next stage with a 3-1 result. Germany was the team who thumped the South Americans with a 4-0 victory, and another strong contender from South America bowed out.
Few would have predicted that South America would be represented in the semifinals by Uruguay. They had a tremendous tournament inspired by Diego Forlan, who was later voted for the Golden Ball, and well supported by fellow striker Luis Suarez. Uruguay kicked off their campaign with a goalless draw with France but victories against hosts South Africa and Mexico gave them the top spot in Group A. Uruguay played another very good match against South Korea in the Round of 16 to win 2-1 and then overcame a late scare against Ghana to progress through on the penalty shootout. They were, however, defeated by 3-2 score-lines in both the semifinal and the playoff for the third position against the Netherlands and Germany respectively.
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