RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil
Argentina defeated Brazil 1-0
on Tuesday in an ill-tempered 2026 World Cup qualifying clash marred by
pre-match crowd trouble that forced kick-off to be delayed.Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi heads the ball into the goal to win the game for Argentina against Brazil in the World Cup qualifier at the Maracana on November 21, 2023
A 63rd-minute header from
veteran defender Nicolas Otamendi secured victory for Argentina as the world
champions bounced back from last week's defeat to Uruguay to beat their bitter
South American rivals.
The win at Rio de Janeiro's
iconic MaracanĂ£ Stadium leaves Argentina on top of the South American
qualifying standings with 15 points from six games.
Brazil's third defeat of
qualifying, meanwhile, leaves the five-time world champions in sixth place with
seven points from six games.
"This group continues to
achieve historic things," Argentina captain Lionel Messi said afterwards.
"Maybe today wasn't the most important thing, but it was a nice win."
Tempers had flared in the
stands at the Maracana moments before kick-off, with Brazilian police seen
using batons to drive back a block of Argentine fans at one end of the ground.
Several Argentina players went
towards the disturbances in an apparent attempt to plead for calm, with
goalkeeper Emi Martinez attempting to jump into the seating area at one stage
to confront a baton-wielding Brazilian police officer.
Argentina's players led by
Messi then returned to their dressing room as the clashes continued, with Messi
appearing to say: "We're not playing, we're leaving."
Messi later explained he had
taken his team-mates off the field in the hope of cooling the atmosphere.
"We went to the locker room because it was a way to calm everything down a little," Messi said. "We went to see how our families and people close to us were doing. And then we came back."
The 2022 World Cup winners
re-emerged onto the field shortly before 10pm local time and the match kicked
off shortly afterwards, roughly 30 minutes later than the scheduled start time.
The febrile pre-match
atmosphere spilled onto the field when play finally got under way, with
Brazil's Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus being given a yellow card after just
five minutes after clashing with Argentina's Rodrigo De Paul.
The tense nature of the
contest continued throughout a poor first half, with neither side creating much
in the way of goalscoring opportunities in a game littered with niggly fouls.
Brazil winger Raphinha was
booked in the 14th minute for flinging an arm into the face of De Paul, and was
lucky not to receive a second yellow five minutes later after catching Alexis
MacAllister with a wild studs-up challenge.
Brazil meanwhile failed to
register a single shot -- either on or off target -- until a 38th minute
free-kick from Raphinha that deflected wide for a corner.
The only shot on goal from
either side in the entire first half came on 44 minutes, when Brazil's Gabriel
Martinelli lashed a muffed clearance from Argentina goalkeeper Martinez back
towards goal.
Martinelli's shot was heading
for the net but Argentina breathed a sigh of relief after defender Cristian
Romero blocked the effort on the line.
Brazil started the second half
more positively, with Raphinha having a shot blocked at the near post by
Martinez after 54 minutes.
Martinez then rescued
Argentina again, parrying Martinelli's goal-bound shot after a good run by
Gabriel.
But Brazil were rocked after
Argentina took the lead on 63 minutes with their first attempt on target of the
match.
Giovani Lo Celso swung in an
inviting corner from the left and the 35-year-old Otamendi soared above Brazil
midfielder Andre to head home for 1-0.
A miserable night for Brazil
got worse in the 82nd minute when substitute Joelinton -- who had only been on
the field for 12 minutes -- was sent off for an off-the-ball clash with De
Paul.
In other South American
qualifiers on Tuesday, Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez scored twice as Uruguay
easily beat Bolivia 3-0 to remain in second place in the standings, two points
behind Argentina.
Colombia kept up their
qualification push with a 1-0 win over Paraguay in Asuncion, while Chile's
problems mounted with a 1-0 defeat in Quito against Ecuador.
Colombia, who failed to
qualify for the 2022 World Cup, are third in the table with 12 points. Chile
however are languishing in eighth spot with just five points. In the day's
other game, Peru drew 1-1 with Venezuela in Lima.
The top six teams of the
round-robin home-and-away qualifying tournament will earn berths at the 48-team
2026 World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while the
seventh-placed team goes into a play-off.
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