Argentina occupied the edge of the 2026 World Cup on Friday after a great strike by Thiago Al-Mayadea a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in Montevono. The ruling world champion seemed to be drawn after a tense disbursement against the Uruguay team, which defeated the Argentine 2-0 in Buenos Aires earlier in the qualifiers. But Argentina captured all the three points with a moment of magic that was amazed at Estadio Center from Montevideo.
The ball was collected on the edge of the area, the 23 -year -old midfielder received a touch and overlooked a fierce blow that flew into the upper corner beyond the diving of Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.
The only defects of Argentina came on a solid night otherwise in the depth of stopping when Nicholas Gonzalez was rejected after hunting Uruguayan defender Nahitan Nandez with a high shoe in a rash challenge.
However, this late Red Card was unable to remove the shine from the evening to the Argentine coach, Lionel Scalloni, who praised his team’s response to Messi’s loss due to the injury.
“Full match”
“How can I not be satisfied?” Skaloni said after winning. “Not only for the result – but how to give them all. Satisfaction comes from the fact that the team played a full match.
“When one of the players is missing, the other comes (…) We have enough to go out to the field quietly, but the team is present.”
The victory means that Argentina can become the first team in South America to reserve its place in the World Cup for the next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico by beating Brazil in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
World champions are now leading the qualifying qualifying competition for South America, which amounts to 10 teams with 28 points from 13 games, leaving them six points before Ecuador in second place, with third Brazil at 21 points.
Uruguay is fourth in the standings with 20 points from 13 games, ahead of Paraguay, fifth, with a goal difference.
Friday’s victory guarantees that Argentina cannot end worse than seventh place, which means that they are at least reassured in a match between Al -Ittihad.
The first six teams in the ranking of the World Cup are automatically qualified.
In the other qualifiers on Friday in South America, Ecuador strengthened their chances of reaching the finals by beating 2-1 over Venezuela.
Two goals from veteran striker Enner Valencia closed Ecuador’s points, who make an offer to qualify for the World Cup for the fifth time in the country’s history.
The Ecuador coach Sebastian Picassesi greeted his team’s performance, but he warned of satisfaction when he was closed at the World Cup.
“When things go well, as today when we won three consecutive games, we must be careful, calm and humble and we have a lot of discipline to continue growth in what will happen.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV and is automatically created from a common summary.)
Topics mentioned in this article
