The long and winding road toward qualifying for the 2026 World Cup finals continued in South America with Argentina maintaining their perfect record by winning in Peru while Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay got the better of Brazil in the Centenario Stadium.
The seemingly unsatiable Lionel Messi scored both goals in La Albiceste’s victory in Lima as the world champions made it four wins out of four.
Lionel Scaloni chose to select many of their World Cup heroes and their experience looks likely to guide Argentina through most of the qualifiers.
However, time will surely eventually catch up on Otamendi and co. at which point a reconstruction may well be needed especially ahead of the finals.
But for now, they are well on course (with at least six countries gaining qualification), to defend their title.
Meanwhile, Brazil suffered at the hands of old master Marcelo Bielsa as his Uruguay team beat them 2-0 in Montevideo thanks to goals from Nicholas De La Cruz and Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez.
That result was particularly painful for Neymar who suffered a serious knee injury in the match to add to the Selecao’s woes.
Damaging, but it is unlikely to affect their overall qualification chances and hence their record of appearing in every World Cup.
Venezuela, after beating Chile 3-0, joined Brazil and Uruguay on seven points but Bolivia, following a single-goal loss to Paraguay remain without a point.
Analysis – John Bethell