It is easy to imagine Marcelo Bielsa being offered the Uruguay job and becoming enchanted with a young, dynamic spine of a side featuring Ronald Araújo at the back, Manuel Ugarte in the holding role, Federico Valverde working box to box, and Darwin Núñez leading the attacking line.
This is the side that Bielsa is building, and the big call was making Núñez the king of the attack. It meant discarding Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, leaving the coach open to criticism if it were to go wrong. That was the importance of the late penalty that Núñez scored away to Colombia last week; it rescued a point for Uruguay, got the striker off the mark in this campaign -- and set him up for a man-of-the match performance in Tuesday's 2-0 win at home to Brazil. Liverpool's bringer of chaos proved the difference in a match that never lived up to expectations but earned a place in the history books. This was only Uruguay's second triumph over Brazil in qualification, and it is the first time Brazil have lost a World Cup qualifier in more than eight years.
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
The tactical battle between Bielsa and Brazil boss Fernando Diniz always looked fascinating. Uruguay would obviously press. Brazil baited them, with Neymar dropping very deep to orchestrate the play, drawing their opponents forward with the intention of creating space for a counter-attack. And though Brazil could not create, the game seemed to be going more their way -- until Núñez stepped up.
He nodded back a throw from the left and then made for the area. Winger Maximiliano Araujo turned Marquinhos in style, dinked in a cross -- and there was Nunez to guide a stooped header inside the near post.
Soon afterwards, Brazil lost Neymar to a worrying knee injury. Some have been calling for him to be out of the team. But the Selecao got worse as the game progressed. For the third consecutive match they had little to offer from open play, and this time they only threatened from a single set piece, when Rodrygo's free kick clipped the bar.
With next to no time on the training field, it was to be expected that Diniz might run into early problems. His football is unstructured, off the cuff, dependent on relations built within the team. At the moment, Brazil in possession seem to have little idea of how they want to move the ball. There is a lack of angles open for players to receive the ball, and too many moves end with hopeful attempts to win a free kick. And all the time they pressed, Uruguay had the option of playing up to their centre forward, who could either hold the ball up or look to run behind the Brazil defence.
Núñez clinched the points inside the final 15 minutes. This time he received a throw from the right, near the goal line. Somehow he was able to twist his way round Gabriel and put in a little cross that the hyperactive Nicolas de la Cruz gleefully fired into the roof of the net.
Few would have imagined that Brazil would be level on points with Venezuela after four rounds -- though this has as much to do with the progress of the Venezuelans as it does with the problems of Brazil. Last week Venezuela snatched a heroic 1-1 draw away to Brazil; now they put Chile to the sword in a 3-0 win in Maturin.
The star turn was little winger Yeferson Soteldo, one of a group who came through the 2017 under-20 side that reached the final of that year's World Cup at the level. Soteldo gave Venezuela the lead just before halftime, and their superiority grew after Chile had Norwich City midfielder Marcelino Núñez sent off for the foolish error of pushing and poking the referee in protest at receiving a yellow card. Down to 10 men, Chile could not get close enough to Soteldo to throw sand at his shirt number. He tore them apart down the left wing, and set up goals for Salomón Rondón and Darwin Machis. Venezuela have every right to dream of making it to their first senior World Cup, and the competition would surely benefit from the delightful presence of a player like Soteldo.
The 2026 tournament would also benefit, of course, from the presence of a fit and capable Lionel Messi. He will turn 39 during the course of the competition, and his thinking at the moment is that it might be asking too much. Next year's Copa America may well be the end of the story. Meanwhile, he keeps coming up with evidence for his continued relevance. Last Thursday, he came off the bench in the second half of the win over Paraguay. Now, fitter and sharper, he started the game away to Peru, and he decided it as well, sweeping home both goals as Argentina coasted to a 2-0 win.
But in addition to his own boundless talent, he is also backed up by a functioning collective context. The goals came from splendid team moves, the ball fizzing from the feet of players well aware of what they are trying to do. All the other teams in the qualifiers look like works in the early stages of progress, with new coaches still trying to bed in. Argentina, more than five years now under Lionel Scaloni, are the exception. They are a team, capable of pulling off the difficult task of making football look simple -- and that is why they are 100% and five points clear at the top of the table.