Bolivia won again and moves into the World Cup qualifying zone and Argentina continues as the leader

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Buenos Aires.-Argentina tied 1-1 with Venezuela and remains leader; Colombia, despite its 1-0 defeat against Bolivia, is second and Brazil beat Chile 2-1 on the hour. Meanwhile, Ecuador and Paraguay did not draw differences.

With four matches, the ninth date of the South American Qualifiers towards the 2026 World Cup began. This Friday, Peru and Uruguay will complete the day at the National Stadium in Lima from 10:30 p.m.

This Thursday’s activity began with Bolivia’s 1-0 victory against Colombia at home, thanks to Miguel Terceros’ great goal. The Bolivian team placed fifth in the Qualifiers and are in the direct qualification zone, with the dream of being able to make their third participation in a World Cup.

Later, Argentina could not beat Venezuela in Maturín and tied 1-1. Nicolás Otamendi opened the scoring in the first half, but in the second half Salomón Rondón tied for Vinotinto. Those led by Lionel Scaloni remain at the top of the table, while those led by Fernando Batista finished seventh and today are in the playoff zone for Canada, the United States and Mexico 2026.

Then, Ecuador and Paraguay did not make any difference in Quito in a boring meeting with few emotions. Before the game, the current coach of the Guaraníes, Gustavo Alfaro, experienced an emotional moment due to the greeting of his former coaches and also received the affection of the local public.

In Thursday’s final, Brazil beat Chile 2-1 in Santiago. Eduardo Vargas opened the scoring for La Roja, but the visitors turned it around with goals from Igor Jesus and Luiz Henrique. The cast led by Ricardo Gareca was more than the Verdeamerela in the first half, but before the break the visiting team reached parity. In the complement, it was for both of them and Scratch achieved victory in the end.

With these results, Argentina remains the leader with 19 points, Colombia follows second with 16; while the partial podium is completed by Uruguay (15), which will visit Peru tomorrow, which is last (3). Brazil is fourth with 13 points and then Ecuador and Bolivia are ranked, with 12. While Venezuela has 11 and today is in the playoff zone. Finally, Paraguay was left with 10 points and Chile had 5, but could finish last if Peru beats Uruguay.

This new mark on the calendar will be completed next Tuesday, October 15, with an agenda that will bring together the five duels of the 10th date: Colombia-Chile, Paraguay-Venezuela, Uruguay-Ecuador, Argentina-Bolivia and Brazil-Peru. It must be taken into account that in 2024 there is still one more FIFA window with the double day in mid-November to face the 11th and 12th.

The six directly qualified for the 2026 World Cup will be known next year, with an agenda that will have three windows of FIFA Dates distributing the last six matches between March, June and September 2025. The seventh in the standings will face a Repechage against five other teams from different confederations to bid for the last two passes for the most important competition at the national team level.

It is worth remembering that the next World Cup will be divided between the United States (eleven venues), Mexico (three venues) and Canada (two venues). It will be the largest edition in history, since for the first time there will be 48 teams competing in a competition that will have a phase with 12 groups of 4 teams each and will run from Thursday, June 11 to Sunday, July 19, 2026. Infobae.