South America's Tight Race: Ecuador Leads, But Paraguay and Co. Are Right There

Ecuador's second-place finish in CONMEBOL qualifying has many touting them as a World Cup dark horse, but a closer look reveals a much tighter race. A three-point deduction means Ecuador actually collected 32 points, while the teams from third to sixth—including Paraguay, Colombia, and others—all finished level on 28. That razor-thin margin shows there's virtually no separating the chasing pack. Don't write off Paraguay, who supposedly 'scraped through.' The table tells a different story: from...