- La Vinotinto remains in sixth place in the standings, while Albiceleste leads the standings. Main photo: EFE
Venezuela drew 1-1 against Argentina this Thursday, October 10, on the ninth date of the South American Qualifiers, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, in a match played at the Monumental Stadium in Maturín, Monagas state.
The Albiceleste opened the match in the 13th minute with a goal from Nicolás Otamendi after a rejection by Venezuelan goalkeeper Rafael Romo. However, Vinotinto tied the match in the 64th minute with a header from Salomón Rondón after an assist from Yeferson Soteldo.
The match between the teams, scheduled for 5:00 pm, was delayed due to the rain that fell in the city of Maturín and flooded the playing field. Stadium staff carried out cleaning work to remove water from the field, but the wells remained.
The Albiceleste, current world and Copa América champions, arrived at the José Tadeo Monagas International Airport in Maturín on October 9, after flying from Miami (Florida, USA), where they had carried out several training sessions.
The Argentine team had some setbacks because they had to avoid Hurricane Milton, that hit part of the state of Florida on October 9, as well as the impossibility of flying directly to Maturín from the United States, so the players had to stop in Colombia.
First half of the game
The Argentine team opened the scoring in the 13th minute, when Nicolás Otamendi took advantage of a rejection by Venezuelan goalkeeper Rafael Romo who was left in the area and scored the goal.
The Albiceleste continued to dominate possession of the ball, but without significant arrivals into the vinotinto area. In fact, water holes in the middle of the court significantly limited ball mobility.
Venezuela, for its part, took the opportunity to shoot twice from outside the area, without this posing any threat to the Argentine goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli, who saved them.
Salomón Rondón had a direct approach to the goal, but did not score the goal in the 25th minute of the match after a defensive action by Germán Pezzella.
In the 32nd minute the referee showed a yellow card to the vinotinto José “el Brujo” Martínez for an offensive action against Giovani Lo Celso from behind.
Second half of the game
La Vinotinto took advantage of the second chapter of the match to significantly increase possession of the ball, and seek to create play with Brujo Martínez and Soteldo on the sides.
The match continued to be conditioned by water on the field, but Venezuela knew how to hold off Argentina’s arrivals in the area.
In the 64th minute, Salomón Rondón took advantage of an assist from Yeferson Soteldo and with a header in the area beat the Argentine goalkeeper to tie the match.
With this result, Vinotinto has 11 points and remains in sixth position in the table, while Albiceleste leads the standings.
These are the team lineups:
Venezuela
-22. Rafael Romo
-2. Nahuel Ferraresi
-3. Yordan Osorio
-4. Jon Aramburu
-21. Alexander González
-8. Tomas Rincon
-13. Jose Martinez
-6. Yangel Herrera
-10. Yeferson Soteldo
-7. Jefferson Savarino
-23. Salomon Rondon
Argentina
-12. Geronimo Rulli
-16. Nahuel Molina
-6.German Pezzella
-19. Nicolas Otamendi
-3. Nicolas Tagliafico
-7. Rodrigo DePaul
-8.Enzo Fernandez
-11. Giovani Lo Celso
-15. Thiago Almada
-10. Lionel Messi
-9. Julian Alvarez
The data from Venezuela and Argentina for the ninth round of Qualifiers
Argentina leads the South American Qualifiers standings with 18 points. Of eight games played, he won six and lost two. In addition, they have accumulated 12 goals for and four against.
For its part, Vinotinto is ranked number 6 with 11 points (two wins, five draws and two losses), above Paraguay and below Brazil.
For the matches against Argentina and Paraguay, the Venezuelan team called up 40 players, including 25 U-20 players.
Yangel Herrera returned to the squad after having been out on the two previous rounds of the playoffs, due to a fibrillar tear in his left leg.
As for the Albiceleste, they announced before their arrival in Venezuela that offensive midfielder Valentín Carboni will not play in the double qualifying round due to an injury. This loss is added to that of Alexis Mac Allister, who did travel with the national team, but will not play due to “overload” in the adductor of his right leg.
Lionel Messi will return to the fields with the national team, after his absence in the doubleheader that took place in September due to an injury he suffered in the Copa América final.
The path of Venezuela and Argentina in the Qualifiers
The Venezuelan team debuted on September 7, 2023 in the South American Qualifiers with a 1-0 defeat against Colombia. Three days later they beat Paraguay 1-0 with a goal from Salomón Rondón at minute 90+3.
Then, in the game against Brazil, the score ended tied with a goal from Venezuelan Eduardo Bello almost at the end of the game. While in the next match, the Venezuelan team scored three goals against its Chilean team in Maturín. In their match against Ecuador it ended 0-0, also in Venezuelan territory.
On September 5, 2024, Venezuela lost to Bolivia 4-0. Subsequently, the Venezuelan team drew 0-0 in Maturín with Uruguay on the eighth day of the South American Qualifiers.
For its part, the Argentina team won 1-0 against Paraguay in the match on October 12, 2023, and continued the streak on October 17 against Peru, with a score of 2-0 in favor of the Albiceleste.
Subsequently, the Argentina team lost against Uruguay 0-2, but rose with a score of 0-1 in the match with Brazil. Next, they achieved a 3-0 in their match with Chile in the match for the seventh round of the South American Qualifiers. However, they lost 2-1 against Colombia on September 10.
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