Argentina remain on top of the CONMEBOL standings with their qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup surely just a matter of time.
Lautaro Martinez’s goal gave Argentina a 1-0 win over Peru on Tuesday (Nov 19) in a South American qualifying match in Buenos Aires and left the hosts close to a spot in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Its main continental rivals Brazil drew 1-1 against Uruguay in Salvador, Brazil with two impressive goals in an otherwise lackluster match. Federico Valverde gave Uruguay the lead with a curled shot from the edge of the box, and Gerson netted his first for Brazil in similar fashion at the Arena Fonte Nova.
Argentina leads South American qualifying with 25 points from 12 matches, five points clear of its closest competitor, Uruguay. Ecuador and Colombia are next with 19 points each.
Brazil lags in fifth position with 18 points after several uninspiring performances, still hoping that striker Neymar will return from injury and fit in again.
Paraguay, with 17 points, is in sixth place.
South American qualifying will give six direct berths in the next World Cup. Seventh-place Bolivia, with 13 points, is in the international playoff position. Venezuela (12), Chile (9), and Peru (7) are out of qualifying spots.
The next round of South American World Cup qualifying will be played in March.
Paraguay draw, Chile win
Elsewhere Tuesday, Paraguay earned a 2-2 draw at Bolivia with the home side going ahead in the 15th minute with a confident strike from Ervin Vaca.
Miguel Almiron levelled for Paraguay in the 71st minute with a clinical finish after a smart passing move across the box. Bolivia restored their lead nine minutes later with a Miguel Terceros penalty after Gustavo Gomez brought down Lucas Chavez in the box.
Both benches got involved in protests and Bolivian sub Adalid Terrazas and Paraguay’s Diego Gomez, who had been substituted, were both shown red cards.
Paraguay grabbed a point in stoppage time in some style with a magnificent solo effort from Julio Enciso who dribbled from deep before unleashing a thundering drive from 20 yards out.
Ninth-placed Chile have a lot of work to do if they are to make one of the six automatic qualifcation spots but they did their cause no harm with a 4-2 thrashing of Venzeula.
Venezuela took the lead thanks to a thunderbolt from the edge of the box from Jefferson Savarino but seven minutes later Eduardo Vargas levelled.
Ruben Ramirez restored the lead for the ‘Vinotinto’ but an own goal from Tomas Rincon made it 2-2 and Lucas Capeda’s 38th minute goal sent Chile in with a 3-2 lead at the break.
Capeda finished off a swift counter attack in the 47th minute to give Chile their second win of the campaign.
