With the top four nations qualifying automatically for the World Cup from the South American qualifying group, the nation who is currently in fifth place has a lot to fight for.

Uruguay are the team sitting in the play-off spot and they know the heartache of losing out on a play-off because they fell at the final hurdle to Australia in the last qualifying tournament.

This means that they will be extremely determined to claim one of the top four places in the group and they will be looking to win their next home match against Brazil. Brazil are currently second in the group with 21 points, four points ahead of Uruguay. This means that a home win will see the Uruguayans sit one point behind Brazil and find themselves squarely in the running for the 2010 World Cup.

Depending on other results, Uruguay could defeat Brazil and still find themselves outside of the automatic qualification places. A home win will make for an exciting time in the qualifying games ahead.

A similar close run battle is sure to be taking place in Asuncion in Paraguay when the group leaders welcome third place Chile. The away team knows that an away win will draw them to within one point of the group leader but more importantly, will give them the opportunity to put some space between themselves and the teams just below the qualifying spots.

Chile face a tough task against a team who have only lost twice in the campaign so far. They can take comfort in the fact that they have a far greater goal difference than their opponents. So, essentially, they should have the confidence to take the game to their opponents and force the tempo of the match.

These two are by no means the end of the crucial ties as Argentina, sitting in the final automatic qualification spot welcome Columbia to Buenos Aires. Columbia are currently in sixth place, five points behind Argentina and three points short of the play-off place which means there is a huge incentive for Columbia to upset the odds and take all three points from Argentina.

After a stuttering run, Argentina turned to their football hero Diego Maradonna who took over the running of the national team. After a promising start, the wheels came off with a thumping at the hands of Bolivia.

Argentinean fans can only be hopeful that the feel good factor felt by Lionel Messi after his goal and starring performance in the Champions League final will be enough to drive his team to cement their place in the qualification process for South Africa in 2010.

With six games to go, every team apart from Peru is still capable of making it through to the World Cup which means that these matches are going to be extremely tense and filled with high drama. With the away teams in need of the points, the matches will be of a far more open standard than is usually expected at this stage of the qualification process, which is great news for football fans everywhere.