The Venezuelan soccer team faced its counterpart from Argentina this Thursday, October 10, in a duel valid for matchday nine of the South American qualifiers heading to the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, the United States and Canada.
This match, which was played at the Monumental de Maturín stadium, had La Vinotinto as the protagonist, as it generated more scoring opportunities. However, they could not get past the 1-1 draw against the world champion and two-time champion of America.
Although it was not possible to join three, the eleventh country maintains a good balance at home. In five World Cup challenges he has two wins and a trio of agreements, in addition to scoring five goals and only conceding one.
First time
During the first half, the match was marked by the poor condition of the field, as the ball was not running normally due to the water accumulated after the heavy downpour in Maturín a couple of hours before the opening whistle.
Even so, both teams managed to try to create danger in front of the rival goal and it was Argentina that was able to vaccinate first.
A free kick taken by Lionel Messi from the left wing was repelled by Venezuelan goalkeeper Rafael Romo, but the rebound remained in the center of the area and was taken advantage of by Nicolás Otamendi to make it 1-0 for La Albiceleste in the 13th minute.
From then on there was little offensive play on the visit. Those led by Fernando “bocha” Batista were solvent in defense, but the attack was not forceful enough.
Between Yeferson Soteldo, Salomón Rondón and Jefferson Savarino they created some chances, but nothing with clarity. The one who came closest was “salo” after taking a free kick, but the ball was repelled before crossing the goal line.
Push
From the start of the second 45 minutes, La Vinotinto fought to reach the goal defended by Gerónimo Rulli, but he repelled a couple of clear opportunities from Rondón.
Venezuela continued to push forward and that was reaffirmed with the variants of Batista, who brought in Jhonder Cádiz and Darwin Machís instead of Tomás Rincón and Jefferson Savarino.
At 65′ the long-awaited equalizer came after a header from Salomón Rondón to a cross served by Soteldo from the left wing.
After the tie, the local team maintained an offensive attitude despite the fact that the world champion and two-time American champion team was in front, but they could not beat Rulli for the second time.
Classification
With this result, added to Bolivia’s 1-0 victory over Colombia, Venezuela is now in seventh place (playoffs) with nine points.
Paraguay, the next rival of the national team, is eighth with 10 points after drawing 0-0 with Ecuador in Quito.
Now La Vinotinto must go look for the three points at the Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asunción to once again distance themselves from the Guaraníes. An adverse result would remove Venezuela from the classification positions, with eight days left in the World Cup.
Maturín / Javier A. Guaipo
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