{"id":86242,"date":"2024-10-23T21:51:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T21:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/argentina-brazil-stunned-in-wc-qualifiers-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-10-23T21:51:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T21:51:41","slug":"argentina-brazil-stunned-in-wc-qualifiers-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/argentina-brazil-stunned-in-wc-qualifiers-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina, Brazil stunned in WC qualifiers | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nMONTEVIDEO:
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Colombia avenged their Copa America final defeat with a 2-1 victory over Argentina while Brazil crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Paraguay in South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Skipper James Rodriguez buried a nerveless 60th-minute spot-kick to seal a hard-fought win for Colombia over the reigning world champions, who were without injured captain Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n

It was sweet revenge for Colombia, who were beaten 1-0 by Argentina in a bitterly disappointing Copa America final loss in Miami two months ago.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think I’ve ever scored against them — there’s a first time for everything,” Colombia captain Rodriguez said of his winning spot-kick.<\/p>\n

“We want to get used to playing finals. Today was just another game, but against a team that has won everything — this victory tastes even better.”<\/p>\n

The victory at Barranquilla’s Metropolitano Stadium lifted Colombia into second place in South America’s 10-team qualifying competition with 16 points from eight points, just two points behind leaders Argentina.<\/p>\n

Colombia, backed by a passionate home crowd, took the lead in the 25th minute when Rodriguez chipped a cross to the back post where Yerson Mosquera rose to head home.<\/p>\n

But three minutes after the interval, the visitors drew level when a misplaced pass from Rodriguez was pounced upon by Nicolas Gonzalez, who raced away and slotted past advancing Colombia keeper Camilo Vargas.<\/p>\n

Twelve minutes later, though, Colombia restored their lead in controversial fashion.<\/p>\n

Nicolas Otamendi clattered Daniel Munoz with a wild challenge and after several minutes, Chilean referee Piero Maza was sent to the VAR monitor and awarded a penalty.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez stepped up and confidently slotted home, sending Argentina’s penalty specialist Emiliano Martinez the wrong way.<\/p>\n

Colombia striker Jhon Duran missed a great chance to make it 3-1 when he was found unmarked in the centre of the box but fired straight at Martinez.<\/p>\n

Despite the defeat, Argentina remain comfortably on course for a place at the 2026 World Cup which is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n

With the tournament expanded to 48 teams, the top six finishers in South American qualifying will win a berth to the finals.<\/p>\n

The seventh placed team in qualifying goes into an inter-confederation playoff, with the bottom three teams eliminated.<\/p>\n

Five-time world champions Brazil meanwhile continued their unconvincing qualifying campaign with a 1-0 defeat against Paraguay in Asuncion.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami midfielder Diego Gomez — who is reportedly due to join Premier League side Brighton at the end of the season — scored the game’s only goal, crashing a long-range shot in off the post in the 20th minute.<\/p>\n

The defeat leaves Brazil in fifth place in the standings on 10 points, leading by goal difference from Venezuela, who drew 0-0 at home to Uruguay on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Paraguay meanwhile moved into seventh place on nine points after just their second win of the qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Chile’s hopes of qualifying suffered another body blow after they slumped to a 2-1 loss at home to Bolivia.<\/p>\n

After winning back-to-back Copa Americas in 2015 and 2016, the Chileans failed to qualify for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.<\/p>\n

The prospect of missing out on a third straight tournament loomed closer after goals from Carmelo Algaranaz and Miguel Terceros handed Bolivia a 2-1 win.<\/p>\n

The victory left Chile languishing in ninth place in the standings with just five points from eight games as Bolivia climbed into eighth, trailing seventh-placed Paraguay on goal difference.<\/p>\n

Ecuador meanwhile boosted their qualification hopes with a 1-0 win over Peru in Quito thanks to a goal from veteran striker Enner Valencia.<\/p>\n

Ecuador sit in fourth place in the standings with 11 points from eight games. Peru remain bottom of the table with just three points from 10 games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTEVIDEO: Colombia avenged their Copa America final defeat with a 2-1 victory over Argentina while Brazil crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Paraguay in South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday. Skipper James Rodriguez buried a nerveless 60th-minute spot-kick to seal a hard-fought win for Colombia over the reigning world champions, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/James-Colombia1726084412-0\/James-Colombia1726084412-0.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t