Brazil's Ronaldinho (right) jokes next to his teammate Gilberto before a training session in Teresopolis, Brazil. Brazil will play against Colombia in their World Cup 2010 qualifying match in Bogota on Sunday. - Reuters

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters):

BRAZIL AND Argentina start on the long road to the 2010 World Cup at the weekend in the first South American qualifiers.

There will be a sense of déjà vu as Brazil begin their campaign with a visit to Colombia, while Argentina host neighbours Chile - a repetition of the opening fixtures in the previous two qualifying tournaments.

The South American Football Confederation (CSF) has resisted pressure from European clubs and maintained the format, in which the 10 nations compete in a single group.

Avoid fixture congestion

With most South American internationals playing for European clubs, the CSF says it will avoid fixture congestion by using only dates assigned by FIFA for international competition.

This has led to an uneven distribution of games with two match days this month, another two in November and then a long wait until June when four rounds of games will be played, coinciding with the European championship.

In all, each team will play 18 games in a campaign lasting two years.

More surprisingly, the CSF has decided to save itself some homework by using the same fixture list it employed for the 1998 and 2002 qualifiers.

On both occasions, the same four teams - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador - qualified directly for the finals, while Uruguay finished fifth to earn a play-off against Australia.

The only difference was that Uruguay lost on penalties in the 2006 play-off, having beaten the Australians four years earlier.

This time, the fifth-placed team will face a theoretically easier match against the fourth side from CONCACAF.

Good arrangement

The arrangement has so far worked out well for Brazil, who play Colombia on Sunday, as they drew 0-0 in Bogota in the 2002 qualifiers and won 2-1 in Barranquilla in the 2006 tournament.

Argentina have always found Chile a tough proposition and Saturday's game at the River Plate stadium offers an added twist as it pits them against their former coach Marcelo Bielsa.

Bielsa, who will be making his competitive debut for Chile, led Argentina from 1999 to 2004, then spent three years away from the touchlines until being appointed by Chile in August.

"It will be odd to see Bielsa on the opponents' bench," said midfielder Esteban Cambiasso. "But we have to think about our own team and do our best for Argentina."

The other matches are all on Saturday with Peru hosting Paraguay in Lima, Uruguay taking on Bolivia in Montevideo and Ecuador entertaining Venezuela in Quito.