The last day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup had several names. It seemed that Raphinha was going to be the protagonist of Brazil, with a great goal in his debut with the number 10 in the national team, but the game went wrong for the canarinha with a final draw against Venezuela (1-1) that Vinícius was able to undo. The Real Madrid player missed a penalty and missed the subsequent rebound. Argentina fared worse, losing in Paraguay although maintaining the lead (2-1). Messi, who played the entire match, ended up very angry with the referee, whom he reproached for several decisions at half-time.
In the first half, Brazil cornered Venezuela to such an extent that the Canarinha defenders played much of this half from midfield. Romo and a crossbar prevented Brazil from going ahead quickly, but in the 43rd minute Raphinha, who was wearing number 10 for Brazil for the first time, executed a placed free kick that beat the Venezuelan goalkeeper, who had been a figure in saving several clear shots.
Venezuela had a hard time triangulating without Yeferson Soteldo – suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards – and putting together quick plays to generate scoring opportunities. The few he had, such as the gift from Ederson after a bad start and a play at the foot of the goal, were not taken advantage of by Salomón Rondón.
However, the start of the second half went to Vinotinto when Telasco Segovia – who had just entered – scored a great goal in the 46th minute, after a surprising two-touch play on the wing.
Venezuela was putting together plays on the wings and from the midfield through José ‘el Brujo’ Martínez, until a bad start by Romo, who gave Brazil a penalty in the 62nd minute that the goalkeeper saved from a shot by Vinícius, who then also He failed on the rebound. After this ruling, Venezuela regained its spirit, but could not go ahead, like Brazil, which did not take advantage of the numerical advantage after the expulsion of Alexander González.
With the tie, Venezuela reached 12 points, while Brazil has 17. Next Tuesday, Brazil will play at home – without Vanderson due to an accumulation of yellow cards – against Uruguay, while Venezuela will face Chile as a visitor, on the twelfth round of these qualifying rounds.
The victory, third in a row for the Guaraníes who already applied the same dose to Brazil and Venezuela in their fiefdom, consolidated the Albirroja in sixth place in the table, with 16 points, and kept Argentina at the head of the classification of the tie, with 22 units, three more than their second team, the Colombian team.
Messi with the scorer Alderete in Paraguay-Argentina.
Messi’s Argentina match against Paraguay also started with an advantage. Lautaro Martínez was in charge of opening the scoring in favor of the albiceleste, which heralded an easy commitment for the world champion team.
After a start with great speed and feints from both sides, Martínez, in the 11th minute, picked up a ball in the air with which he advanced from the left towards the opposite area and surpassed, without hesitation, the Paraguayan goalkeeper, Junior Fernández.
The advantage, which threatened to spoil the Paraguayan party, lasted just eight minutes due to the quick response of the Guaraníes, who from the initial whistle had stalked the Argentine goal, which was saved from being beaten in the 7th minute by a shot from Diego Gómez that It crashed into the crossbar.
It was Antonio Sanabria, Torino’s striker, and Paraguayan scorer in the qualifying rounds, who was in charge of ending the match with a Chilean shot that sent the ball to an unreachable angle for Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martínez. Alderete, Getafe’s center back, turned the score around in the second half.
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