BUENOS AIRES: Chile beat Ecuador 2-1 in their closing South American qualifier in Santiago on Tuesday as both went through automatically to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
The result consigned Uruguay, despite beating group winners Argentina 3-2 in Montevideo, to a playoff against Jordan next month for one more berth in the finals.
Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador occupied the top four automatic qualifying places in the nine-nation group with Uruguay going into the playoff next month, despite catching Ecuador on 25 points but having an inferior goal difference.
They will face Asia qualifiers Jordan over two legs in their fourth consecutive playoff, having taken that route to the 2002 and 2010 finals and being eliminated by Australia at the same stage in the qualifiers for the 2006 finals.
Chile striker Alexis Sanchez and midfielder Gary Medel scored in the first half for Chile with Felipe Caicedo pulling one back for the Ecuadoreans.
Chilean pressure was rewarded in 35th minute when Sanchez scored with a header and Medel doubled their lead two minutes later connecting with Sanchez’s header following a Marcelo Diaz corner.
“This team deserve to be at the World Cup. We dedicate this to Chucho’s memory,” Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rueda said referring to striker Cristian Benitez, who died suddenly of heart failure in July.
“Only this family (the team) knows how much we miss him. We have to work hard so we arrive at the World Cup in high spirits,” the Colombian told reporters.
Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli, who took over from sacked fellow Argentine Claudio Borghi midway through the qualifiers, said he had never imagined going to the World Cup. “This is a very strong team. Now we have to improve even more to play the World Cup with chances to go far. I never imagined this, I can’t even measure it now,” he said.
Colombia, who had qualified on Friday, ended their campaign on a winning note with a 2-1 victory over Paraguay in Asuncion, both their goals coming from central defender Mario Yepes.
“Colombia showed they want to be a great team... Today we had to make a big effort and that’s a sign the team want to keep growing,” said their Argentine coach Jose Pekerman, who was without suspended striker Radamel Falcao in Asuncion.Reuters
