“2026 World Cup qualifiers”: Argentina continues with full marks, while Brazil falters
The Argentine national team continued its victories in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with its third successive victory at the expense of its guest Paraguay 1-0, while Brazil wasted the first two points by stumbling at home to Venezuela 1-1, in the third round competitions.
Argentina, champion of the Qatar World Cup, led by its star Lionel Messi, who sat on the bench before entering the second half, was alone at the top of the combined group with 9 points from 3 victories, two points ahead of Brazil and 4 points behind Colombia, which tied with Uruguay 2-2.
Messi failed 7 times to score (Reuters)
At the Monumental Stadium in the capital, Buenos Aires, veteran defender Nicolas Otamendi scored the winning goal in the third minute with an acrobatic shot “on the fly” after a corner kick taken by Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodrigo de Paul, who almost doubled the score 3 minutes before the end of the first half, but Al-Qaim blocked his shot.
In the 53rd minute, Messi replaced Julián Alvarez, whom coach Lionel Scaloni brought in alongside Lautaro Martinez in the attack, but the seven-time Golden Ball holder failed to score after the blocks blocked his face twice, starting with a corner kick he took. From the right side directly towards the goal and then after a free kick from in front of the penalty area in the second minute of stoppage time for the second half.
Messi participated in the match in the 57th minute (AP)
Messi was absent from the field for about a month due to “muscle fatigue,” according to his American compatriot and coach at Inter Miami, Gerardo “Tata” Martino, after he returned injured after the international break in early September. The little “flea” did not participate in four matches for his team before entering. A substitute in the match that was lost to Cincinnati 0-1, and his dream of qualifying for the playoffs evaporated.
Venezuelan joy over the fatal goal against Brazil (Reuters)
At the Pantanal Stadium in Cuiaba, Venezuela stunned its host Brazil with an equalizer in the 85th minute through substitute Eduard Bello, in response to Gabriel Magalich’s lead goal after a corner kick taken by Neymar (50).
Brazil has never lost to Venezuela in an official match, while it failed to beat them only once in the World Cup qualifiers, and that was in 2009.
The five-time world champions looked uninspired in their first match at the Pantanal Stadium, which was specially built to host matches in the 2014 World Cup.
The fans welcomed the Brazilian team warmly, specifically the star Neymar, who played the match a week after the birth of his daughter, Mafi, where he celebrated his new baby by drawing the letter “M” on his head, and Vinicius Junior, who was absent from the first and second rounds due to injury.
Despite the public support, the stars of Al Hilal Saudi Arabia and Real Madrid of Spain failed to reflect a bright image, and often appeared inconsistent with each other on the left side.
Neymar did not do anything in the match (AP)
Neymar showed off 12 minutes after the starting whistle, raising the ball above his head and passing it between the feet of a defender.
But in front of a solid Venezuelan defense, the former French Paris Saint-Germain star was satisfied with two shots from long distance (3 and 13), similar to Rodrigo (19) and Casemiro (38).
After returning from the break, the hosts imposed their control with two dangerous chances for Neymar (49 and 52), but they retreated after Magalish’s header, opening the door to an equalizer from Bello, the hero of that evening, 5 minutes after he entered the field when he succeeded in beating Marquinhos. After a cross from Jefferson Savarino, he shot a wonderful, acrobatic ball past goalkeeper Ederson.
Fernando Diniz, Brazil’s interim coach, said: “I don’t think the team played poorly. We created opportunities to score the second and third goals, but we did not take advantage of them.” “We gave up counterattacks when we shouldn’t have done so.”
Brazil is embarking on a dangerous journey when it faces Uruguay, the two-time world champion, at the Centenario Stadium in the capital, Montevideo, next Wednesday.
Colombia paid dearly for wasting many opportunities to settle the match against Uruguay, after taking a 2-1 lead in the 52nd minute with a goal by Mateus Uribe.
James Rodriguez opened the scoring after a pass from Santiago Arias (35), and Uruguay equalized through Matias Oliveira’s header from a corner kick from Nicolas de la Croce (47).
Colombia regained the advantage thanks to Uribe, before its goalkeeper Camilo Vargas awarded a penalty kick after a fatal foul on Maximiliano Araujo inside the area, as a result of which he received a second yellow card and was sent off the field, while Liverpool striker Darwin Nunes successfully shot from the penalty spot (90+1). Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa’s team returned with a valuable point from the Metropolitano Stadium in Barranquilla.
Ecuador won over its host Bolivia 2-1, in a match during which midfielder Kendry Paes wrote his name in the record book after becoming the youngest scorer in the history of the South American qualifiers for the World Cup in soccer, at the age of sixteen and six months.
Paes broke the South American record held by Paraguayan Gustavo Neiva against Ecuador on September 24, 1989, when he was 17 years old and 10 months old.
Chile defeated its guest Peru 2-0.
2023-10-13 17:38:34
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