BUENOS AIRES -- Diego Simeone became the
first player to make 100 full international appearances for
Argentina on Wednesday and his team celebrated by hammering
Venezuela 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
Argentina, who have 28 points from 11 games, maintained
their five-point lead in the South American World Cup group,
looking ever more certain to qualify for Japan and South Korea
in 2002.
Venezuela remained rooted to the bottom with three points
after slumping to their 10h defeat in 11 matches.
The hard-tackling Simeone, who made his debut in a 4-1
defeat by Australia in 1988, is one of the game's fiercest
competitors and may have wanted a tougher match as he passed
the milestone.
Venezuela's lightweight team failed to bring out the best
in the midfield destroyer, who became Argentina's most capped
player in the previous match against Italy when he passed Oscar
Ruggeri's total of 98.
Simeone was given back the captain's armband for the night,
when he also celebrated his 31st birthday.
Ecuador had pulled off a major upset by beating Brazil in
Quito earlier Wednesday, but Venezuela rarely looked like
following suit, although they had a surprising amount of
possession and created several openings.
Fernando de Ornelas missed an excellent chance to give them
a shock lead before Argentina ruthlessly took them apart.
Hernan Crespo opened the scoring in the 12th minute,
beating his marker to Nelson Vivas' cross, and Juan Pablo Sorin
added the second in the 31st minute, clinically finishing a
five-man move.
The third goal, in the 51st minute, came from a dipping
free kick taken by Juan Sebastian Veron, though it was hard to
tell whether his effort was meant to be a cross or a shot.
Marcelo Gallardo, unmarked at the far post, headed the
fourth on the hour and defender Walter Samuel scored from close
range following a free kick five minutes from time.
Colombia gets by Bolivia 2-0
Colombia climbed into fourth place in South American qualifying for the 2002
World Cup, beating visiting Bolivia 2-0 Tuesday night on a pair of goals by
Juan Pablo Angel.
At Bogota, Angel scored in the 52nd and 72nd minutes, the first off a pass
from Faustino Asprilla and the latter on a penalty kick following a push by
Gerardo Bedoya.
At Lima, Peru beat Chile 3-1 to overtake the visitors in the standings.
Flavio Maestri put the home team ahead in the 53rd, only to have Reinaldo Navia
tie it seven minutes later. Andres Mendoza gave Peru a 2-1 lead in the 71st and
Claudio Pizarro scored in the 80th.
Chile played a man down following the ejection of Miguel Ramirez in the
81st.
Colombia (5-3-3) has 18 points, seven behind Argentina (8-1-1) and two
behind Brazil and Paraguay (each 6-2-2).
Ecuador (5-4-1) is fifth with 16, followed Uruguay (4-3-3) with 15, Peru
(3-6-2) with 11, Chile (3-7-1) with 10, Bolivia (2-6-3) with nine and Venezuela
(1-9) with three.
The top four teams qualify for the 2002 World Cup, and the fifth-place team
goes to a playoff with the Oceania champion.
Peru outclass Chile in passionate 3-1 win
LIMA, March -- Peru outclassed their old rivals
Chile to win a passionate South American World Cup qualifier
3-1 on Tuesday despite missing a hatful of chances.
Peru created more than 20 clearcut openings but their old
failing in front of goal kept them waiting until the last 20
minutes for victory in an enthralling clash between the two
neighbors.
Goals by Flavio Maestri, Andres Mendoza and Claudio Pizarro
eventually won the match and virtually ended Chile's hopes of
reaching the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Chile dropped to eighth place in the South American group
with 10 points from 11 games. Peru went above Chile and Bolivia
with 11 points, but their own chances remained very faint after
poor earlier results.
Peru, whose poor marksmanship has cost them dearly in the
competition, dominated from the start, but the 45,000 crowd at
the National Stadium must have thought they were watching an
old film as the ball again refused to enter the net.
German-based Pizarro was the biggest culprit. The Werder
Bremen striker missed three clearcut chances shortly before
halftime, the best coming in the 43rd minute when he fired high
and wide from close range with ample time at his disposal.
Halftime substitute Flavio Maestri finally broke through in
the 54th minute with a header from a long cross from the right
after so many well-constructed moves had produced nothing.
Chile, who complained their bus was stoned on the way from
the airport to their hotel when they arrived in Lima, equalized
eight minutes later through Reinaldo Navia after a move in
which he and Ivan Zamorano sliced through the Peru defense.
Peru kept wasting chances, including an extraordinary miss
by striker Maestri who headed wide from three meters with the
goal at his mercy after a shot rebounded to him.
But the home side went back in front when Mendoza scored
with another header following a corner in the 73rd minute.
Six minutes from the end, Pizarro, who had missed three
more excellent chances in the second half, finally got it right
at the seventh attempt when he tapped in a cross by Martin
Hidalgo.
There was still time for another glaring Pizarro miss and
for Chile goalkeeper Nelson Tapia to deny Pizarro and then
Mendoza with two extraordinary saves.
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