MONTEVIDEO: A magnificent volley from Lautaro Martinez was enough to give world champions Argentina a 1-0 win over Peru while Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Uruguay in South American World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.

Argentina remain on top of the CONMEBOL standings with their qualification for the 2026 tournament surely just a matter of time.

Their eighth win from 12 games leaves them on 25 points at the top of the table, five points ahead of Uruguay.

Ten-man Ecuador upset Colombia with a 1-0 victory with both teams on 19 points each.

Five-time World Cup winners Brazil lag in fifth position with 18 points after several uninspiring performances, still hoping that striker Neymar will return from injury and fit in again.

Paraguay, who drew 2-2 at Bolivia, are in sixth place with 17 points.

South American qualifying will give six direct berths in the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Seventh-placed Bolivia, with 13 points, are in the international playoff position. Venezuela (12), Chile (nine), and Peru (seven) are out of qualifying spots.

Martinez notched his 32nd international goal, which put him level with the legendary Diego Maradona, 10 minutes after the break, capitalising on a fine cross from Lionel Messi to fire home a half-volley into the top-right corner.

Until Martinez scored, Argentina’s best chance was in the 21st minute, when striker Julian Alvarez hit the Peruvian goalkeeper’s right post.

Messi once again had a modest performance, as he did in his team’s 2-1 defeat at Paraguay on Thursday.

Despite the disappointing performance at home, Lionel Messi’s team will finish the year with few question marks beyond their performances in November.

“This year was very positive and luckily we closed it with a victory,” Martinez told local TV. “It was a spectacular year in terms of performance, goals, games played. We have to keep playing and improving day by day. Everyone wants to beat us. Argentina’s national team are always the main characters. There are things to improve but we have to continue on this path.”

Brazil laboured for long stretches of the game at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador and fell behind when Uruguay’s Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde curled a fine long-range low shot into the far corner in the 55th minute.

But seven minutes later Brazil equalised when a headed clearance fell kindly to Gerson who smashed home a perfectly-struck volley.

Gabriel Martinelli went close to a winner when he showed a deft touch to switch feet before a volley which brought a fine save out of Sergio Rochet.

“I’d actually swap my goal for the win,” Gerson told Brazil’s Globo TV.

“We knew it was a tough game and we wanted to win. We conceded the goal and got the equaliser. We’ll just have to keep working at our clubs and next year when there’s another international break we can go for it. We just have to keep working and trust in our work.”

Ecuador won in Barranquilla with a goal by Enner Valencia in the seventh minute, in which he dribbled through three players before scoring.

Ecuador lost defender Piero Hincapié to a red card in the 34th minute but held on for the win.

Bolivia looked to make home advantage count against Paraguay at 4,150m above sea level in El Alto and they took the lead after 15 minutes via Ervin Vaca’s first international goal.

The hosts squandered several chances to extend their lead and Miguel Almiron found the equaliser for Paraguay with a first-time finish off a pass from Julio Enciso in the 71st minute.

Bolivia went ahead again nine minutes later when Miguel Terceros made no mistake from the penalty spot but Enciso halted the home fans’ celebrations early in stoppage time with a superb strike from the edge of the box.

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.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024