South American 2026 World Cup Qualifiers: Argentina beats Brazil; Venezuela dreams of playoffs

In an exciting day of South American qualifiers ahead of the upcoming World Cup 2026, Argentina thrashed Brazil, confirming their qualification to the World Cup and winning for the first time in two consecutive World Cup qualifiers against the 'green and yellow' team. In the other matches, Venezuela beat Peru at home; Paraguay rescued a valuable draw against Colombia and Bolivia and Chile dropped points at home against Uruguay and Ecuador respectively, leaving the standings red-hot.

Argentina 4-1 Brazil

Scaloni's Argentina, which arrived at the match against Brazil with important absentees such as Leo Messi and Lautaro Martinez, gave a historical review to the Brazilian team led by Dorival, which for the first time in its history lost both matches with its historic rival in South American qualifiers.

Rarely in history has there been such a disparate match in favor of Argentina against Brazil.

Scaloni, faithful to his footballing idea, set up a team with five midfielders. While Dorival, favoring an in-form lineup, put practically five strikers on the field (Vini Jr., Raphina, Rodrygo, Cunha and Joelinton). The result was predictable: Argentina dominated the midfield, moved the ball better, generated more chances and, with a lot of patience, beat their classic rival at the Monumental in Buenos Aires.

With the result, Argentina reached 31 points, placing itself at the top of the South American qualifiers. Brazil, on the other hand, remained in fourth place, ten points behind the Albiceleste.

Guarani heroics

When it seemed that Gustavo Alfaro was going to lose his unbeaten record as Paraguayan coach, with Colombia taking a 2-0 lead in the first minutes through Luis Díaz and Jhon Durán, the Guarani team lifted the scoreboard 2-0. The Guarani team lifted a historic result thanks to Junior Alonso and Julio Enciso; who scored an anthological goal that left the albirrojo team on the verge of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Thanks to Enciso's goal, Paraguay drew in Colombia and moved up to fifth place in the table with 21 points, just a few points short of direct qualification. On the other hand, the Colombian team was sixth with 20 points, confirming its bad soccer moment.

Venezuela is dreaming of the playoffs

After two years without a win in the qualifiers, Venezuela, coached by Sergio Batista and led by Salomón Rondón, won 1-0 at home against Peru thanks to a penalty goal by its captain.

Although the Vinotinto has yet to rediscover the good play and the forcefulness that characterized it during the first days of the qualifying rounds, the victory against Peru was vital, because with it, the Venezuelan national team is now in the playoff positions with fifteen points, five points behind Colombia, the team it will host on the last home game.

With much suffering in front of their fans, Batista's team recovered their sensations and won a final that now gives them motivation to receive Bolivia, a direct rival, in the next qualifying round.

Bolivia and Chile dropped important points

While Venezuela triumphed against Peru, Bolivia and Chile were unable to score three points against Uruguay and Ecuador respectively, missing brilliant opportunities to move up the standings and start fighting for playoff places.

The Bolivian national team, in particular, is already regretting the missed opportunities against Bielsa's team, as their draw means that Venezuela has overtaken them in the standings with four games left to play in the qualifying round.

Now the Bolivian team must make its home advantage count and beat Chile and Brazil in the last rounds to fight for the seventh place currently held by Venezuela.

Chile, for its part, with the draw, remains in last place in the qualifiers, signing an extremely disappointing performance for a team that used to be two-time champion of the Americas until not long ago.