Venezuela rocked South American qualifiers this Thursday by drawing 1-1 away to Brazil, while arch-rivals Argentina, with Messi coming off the bench, beat Paraguay 1-0 in Buenos Aires to go one-way first with a perfect point at the end. on the third date.

In another high-voltage elimination match, Chile won the Pacific Classic against disreputable Peru 2-0 at home, and before that, Uruguay won a valuable 2-2 against Colombia with the dizzying style of Marcelo Bielsa in the hell of Barranquilla. .

Ecuador once again defeated Bolivia at the height of La Paz (3,600 meters above sea level) 2-1 with a goal by the youngster Kendry Paez, who at the age of 16 became the youngest player to score a goal in the history of the South American national team. qualifications.

At the World Cup, Argentina leads with an ideal score of 9 units, two more than Brazil, while Colombia has five, followed by Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela with one less, Ecuador has three, Peru and Paraguay have one each, and Bolivia closes with no units.

South America has six direct qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, while the seventh will play a playoff against a team from another continent.

Venezuela attacks

A great bicycle kick goal by Venezuelan striker Eduardo Bello, with five minutes to go, silenced the Arena Pantanal stadium in Cuiaba.

One of the big surprises of this match just materialized between the team that always qualified for the World Cup, Brazil, and the other that never did, Venezuela.

Despite having all their artillery on the pitch, led by Vinicius, Neymar and Rodrygo, the Seleçao dropped to a 1-1 against one of the weakest teams in South America, which is obsessive about ceasing to be the only country in the region that has never played a maximum date.

When defender Gabriel opened the scoring in the 50th minute, it seemed that everything would continue as before, that Brazil would defeat the opponent, but Vinotinto resisted, was patient and achieved a historic result.

The team led by Argentine Fernando Batista welcomes Chile in the fourth term, in which Brazil has to play a regional classic with Bielsa’s Uruguay at the Centenario Stadium.

Albiceleste in its fullness

The least expected, central defender Nicolás Otamendi, scored the winning goal very early, already in the 3rd minute, but the world champion, with high confidence, played at a high level even though he could not increase the score.

In one of the few opportunities for the Albiceleste, Messi, who entered the game in the 53rd minute, was on the verge of scoring something previously unrecorded in his record: an Olympic goal, although the ball hit the horizontal to the delirium of the 83,000 in attendance. in Monumental..

And two minutes before the end, he scored from a free kick against the upright Paraguayan.

But Lionel Scaloni’s team showed once again that they do not panic if their great figure does not play in the starting eleven or integrate directly into the squad as happened last night against Bolivia 3-0.

When the team is gathered and confident, everything is easier, said a satisfied Scaloni.

And La Albirroja can dream of a better future after the fair game they played in the debut of Argentine Daniel Garner as coach of Guarani.

The Albiceleste will close this window against Peru in Lima on Tuesday, while Paraguay host weak Bolivia in Ciudad del Este.

Bielsa Gale

In the first match of the day, freshman James Rodríguez opened Colombia’s account in the 35th minute, but Mathías Olivera equalized at the beginning of the second period.

James, who is experiencing a bitter situation at his club, Sao Paulo, received the award at the Metropolitano in Barranquilla when he was given a standing ovation before the end.

But the joy for the fans was not complete because after Matheus Uribe scored a partial victory, Liverpool forward Darwin Núñez leveled the score at 2-2 with a penalty for Uruguay at the end, at 90+1.

Kendry Páez, record teenager

The bottom of the table was opposite each other on this third date. Ecuador added a vital 2-1 victory to overcome the three-point discount applied by TAS for the incorrect inclusion of Byron Castillo in the last game.

Ecuador enjoyed it twice: beating Bolivia 2-1 in the final at La Paz (3,600 meters above sea level) on a day in which midfielder Kendry Paéz became the youngest player to score at 16 years and 161 days. in the qualifying match for the World Cup in Conmebol.

It was played in the 45th minute when he opened the way to victory for El Tri.

On the other hand, Bolivia (no points) reaps only disappointment and, despite the fact that the qualification round is very extensive, is already emerging as one of the teams that could be left out of the World Cup in 2026.

Chile conquered the Pacific

In a lull a few years ago, Chile scored a convincing victory against an inert Peru at the Pacific Classic in Santiago.

The victory gives a respite to La Roja, in the midst of transitioning from their successful golden generation, but they are still a long way from feeling like they can compete with the authority for a ticket to the World Cup in North America.

Like Chile, Peru still has time to make a quality breakthrough, although a quick change of course is not in sight. (D)