Brazil

South America's World Cup-bound sides were in action on Friday. What did we glean from performances from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Uruguay?

Uruguay played most of the match with a trio in the centre of midfield, [Matias Vecino](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/145600/Matías-Vecino) holding while [Rodrigo Bentancur](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/215772/Rodrigo-Bentancur) and [Federico Valverde](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/235818/Federico-Valverde) looked for space between the Iranian lines. [Luis Suarez](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/125088/Luis-Suárez) looked well short of his best and missed some of the team's clearest chances. [Ronald Araujo](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/270821/Ronald-Araújo) limped off in the opening minute. With him to the right of [Casemiro](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/173666/Casemiro) and Neymar to the left, there is room for a front three ahead of them. All but one of his six goals came in the first half of the qualifiers, and Ecuador need him to rediscover his best form. But the lack of goals at the other end was a disappointment to the region's sizeable Ecuadorian community and a cause for concern for the coach. [Marquinhos](https://www.espn.com.sg/soccer/player/_/id/297070/Marquinhos) was on hand to use his pace and awareness to snuff out the danger. The variation has been to include [Richarlison](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/156799/Richarlison) as a centre forward, dropping one of the wingers and using Paqueta cutting in from one of the flanks. This was especially important for [Darwin Nunez](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/271788/Darwin-Núñez), whose lack of an effective left foot was a problem when he was out on that flank. [Fred](http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/161559/Fred), dropping deeper to play from central midfield. [United States](/soccer/team?id=660) in a June friendly when he fielded a reserve side. Plan A was to give the ball to Messi and hope.