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Crespo's World Cup heaven is Brazil's hell
A Hernan Crespo double inspired Argentina to a 3-1 victory over arch-rivals Brazil on Wednesday and propelled the victors into the 2006 World Cup finals in the latest round of South American qualifiers.
While Brazil's coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said it had been like descending into hell, it should prove temporary as the world champions only require three points from the last three matches to make it to Germany next year. In other matches Ecuador stayed in third place despite crashing 3-0 away in Colombia with Tressor Moreno scoring a brace to keep the hosts in fifth, which would entitle them to a play-off clash with the winners of the Oceania group. Paraguay bounced back from a 4-1 hammering by Brazil last Saturday to beat Bolivia by the same scoreline and retain fourth spot - just one point behind Ecuador - while Chile are sixth only due to inferior goal difference to Colombia after a 2-1 win over Venezuela. Crespo had said, perhaps a wee bit unfortunately for a sportsman, that beating Brazil was the perfect shot in the arm and he certainly helped that happen with two first-half strikes while Juan Riquelme scored the other one, which was a quite outstanding goal. Brazil played better in the second-half, but only had a trademark Roberto Carlos freekick to show for their efforts and left the vast majority of 60,000 spectators to depart in ecstatic mood. Argentina coach Jose Pekerman dedicated the qualification to former handler Marcelo Bielsa, who surprisingly quit late last year despite guiding the Argentinian Olympic side to the the gold medal and the national side to top of the group. "Tonight the players discovered an astonishing level of play and that was the difference between the sides," he said. "We played at a superb tempo and class in the first-half and it is understandable that we weren't at the same level in the second-half because it is impossible to play at such an intensity for 90 minutes against a great side like Brazil." Crespo was more than just delighted at the outcome. "This is like the greatest dream of my life being played out tonight. Qualifying for the World Cup finals and doing it by beating Brazil." Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said Argentina deserved their victory. "The way they played in the first-half Argentina deserved the victory. "On Saturday against Paraguay (a 4-1 victory) we were in paradise tonight we were in hell. "For some reason we always find it difficult to play here." Parreira, who guided Brazil to World Cup glory in 1994, said that Argentina had taken their chances brilliantly. "They attacked five times and scored on three occasions." Moreno's strikes for Colombia in the fifth and ninth minutes quickly dampened Ecuador's spirits after coming in on a high following the weekend's 2-0 victory over Argentina. Martin Arzuago added a third in the 69th minute to secure Colombia's fourth victory in 12 previous World Cup qualifier meetings with their opponents. Colombia coach Reinaldo Rueda - whose side had beaten Peru 5-0 on Saturday - said that the next match away to Uruguay would be crucial to their qualifying. "The match with Uruguay (September 3) will be decisive although you could say we face three finals (the final three matches)," he said. "Today Moreno's goals early on gave us the stability and confidence we needed to control the game," he added. Ecuador coach Luis Suarez admitted his team had never been in the hunt. "The first 20 minutes killed us off completely," said Suarez, who is Colombian himself. "When one loses by three goals it is clear that there are no excuses and they were definitely the better side. They took their chances much more effectively than we took ours," he added. Paraguay coach Raul Amarilla professed himself happy with the victory over group tailenders Bolivia and then set out an ambitious target of beating Argentina at home in their next qualifier on September 3. "We will be 11 against 11, playing at home and I don't see why we can't beat Argentina as we beat Brazil in the 2002 qualifying tournament," he said. The hosts took the lead in the 17th minute as captain Carlos Gamarra headed home from Edgar Barreto's corner, but were stunned when the visitors levelled 13 minutes later through Gonzalo Galindo. Man of the match Roque Santacruz restored their lead on the stroke of half-time and from then on the hosts were in control. "We found the goal they (Bolivia) scored a real blow and took a while to settle down and get over it," said debutant Juan Daniel Caceres. "However, Roque's goal was crucial as it meant we went in at half-time ahead and could return to the pitch afterwards in a better frame of mind," he added. The narrowness of Chile's victory over Venezuela did not please Chile's Uruguayan-born coach Nelson Acosta. "It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that we didn't finish the match off in the first quarter-of-an-hour of the second-half when we could have scored three goals," he said. Parreira would not have minded if Argentina had been as ineffective, but he was to be bitterly disabused as his team descended into the footballing equivalent of hell.
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