Argentina losing at home to Brazil was not so extraordinary. It had happened before. It was actually more noteworthy when several months earlier Uruguay lost a World Cup qualifier at home to Brazil. That had never happened before.
South American World Cup qualifiers are ultimately predictable affairs, the current Argentine drama notwithstanding. Earlier in the qualifiers, bigger questions hung over Brazil.
After 8 qualifiers more than a few Brazilians feared this would be the year Brazil failed to qualify. Four draws, three of them 0-0, including an embarrassing night in Rio de Janeiro, when Bolivia secured their first ever World Cup point in Brazil. It was more humbling than Brazil’s earlier defeat in Asunción
Somehow Dunga survived.
If Brazil had not beaten Venezuela in San Cristóbal last October, I doubt Dunga would have found himself shaking Maradona’s hand in Rosario last Sunday night.
It’s Venezuela, Brazil’s opposition that night, that now promises to be the story of the South American qualifiers.
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