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Leo Messi and Matthews Konya in a fight
(Reuters)
That’s it – Argentina and Leo Messi will be in the World Cup. The biggest national football match was played tonight (Tuesday-Wednesday) in San Juan, with Brazil and Albiceleste separating 0-0 and remaining unbeaten in the South American home of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Argentina qualifies directly for the World Cup along with the Salsao. In addition, Uruguay suffered a painful 3-0 draw from Bolivia and got very entangled, while Colombia and Paraguay also parted ways in a goalless draw.
In fact, the draw against Brazil, who had already qualified before and played without the injured Neymar, did not guarantee Argentina’s promotion to the World Cup, but a short time after the end of the game it did so thanks to Chile’s loss. 12 points remain at the box office, with Argentina with 29 points, while fourth-placed Colombia and fifth-placed Peru (leading to the playoffs) have 17 points and will still play between them, meaning one will lose points and this promises Messi World Cup participation in a year.
Some numbers, Brazil recorded its 18th game without a loss in the qualifiers, the most games a team in South America has not lost in the qualifiers ever. Argentina on the other hand continued their tremendous streak as they recorded a 27-game unbeaten streak and maintained the longest streak without a loss held by a world team so far.
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Leo Messi is nervous
(Reuters)
The game opened under the control of Argentina, who had great difficulty producing situations and in the first quarter of the game not a single kick was recorded towards the goal. Brazil tried to play on bursts and almost scored when Pacta put a perfect depth ball to Vinicius Jr. who in a one-on-one attempted to bounce over Martinez and missed carelessly. Next, Konya tried his luck from half court with an archery ball but missed the frame slightly.
Only after half an hour of tackling, Argentina reached its first opportunity of the game when Otto Martinez took control of a ball in the box, kicked to the frame but was stopped by the Brazilian defense. In the 40th minute, the first kick of the game came to the frame when Fred was stopped by Martinez. A minute later came Argentina’s best chance when Field Paul kicked a great ball from the edge of the box but squeezed a big save from Allison. At the end of an even half, the teams went down to the break with a 0-0 reflection.
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Argentina players thank the crowd at the end
(Reuters)
The second half started at a very low pace when only in the 60th minute, Fred took control of a ball off the field and kicked from the air, but his ball was stuck only in the crossbar. Brazil continued to be more dangerous and Vinicius kicked hard from an extension but was stopped by Martinez. Leo Messi woke up in the final minutes of the game and tried his luck twice in beautiful moves, but squeezed two good saves from the great Allison. At the end of an even game, a division of points that, as mentioned, was finally enough for Argentina to qualify.
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Argentina fans
(Reuters)
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Leo Messi and Argentina players in the warm-up
(Reuters)
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Brazil players in the warm-up
(Reuters)
Minute 1: Referee Andreas Konya kicks off the game!
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Leo Messi
(Reuters)
10th minute: The game opens aggressively, with Argentina controlling the ball but having difficulty producing dangerous situations in front of Brazil’s goal.
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Fred vs. Otto Martinez
(Reuters)
17th minute: Great opportunity for Brazil: Pacta put a huge depth ball to Vinicius who tried to bounce over Martinez and his ball went out.
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Leo Messi with the ball
(Reuters)
19th minute: Konya saw Martinez standing outside the goal, kicking from half an arc ball that almost penetrated Argentina’s net.
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Leo Messi is nervous
(Reuters)
31st minute: First chance for Argentina: LaTuro Martinez got a good ball in the box and kicked close but was stopped by the Brazilian defense.
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Leo Messi and Matthews Konya in a fight
(Reuters)
40 min: Fred kicks a powerful ball from distance straight into Martinez’s hands. First kick to the frame in the game.
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Marcinius vs. Otto Martinez
(Reuters)
Minute 41: Rodrigo de Paul kicked a good ball from the edge of the box, Allison deflected it wonderfully.
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Danilo and Giovanni Lou salsa in the fight
(Reuters)
60 min: Great opportunity for Brazil: Fred took control of a rebound off the field and from the air bombed the crossbar.
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Christian Romero and Adar Militeau in the fight
(Reuters)
72 min: Vinicius Jr. got a good ball in the box, passed a left foot to the right, kicked hard but was stopped by Martinez.
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Vinicius Jr.
(Reuters)
73 min: Leo Messi kicks hard from the air but squeezes a save from Allison.
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Leo Messi
(Reuters)
90th minute: Leo Messi released nicely on the edge of the box and kicked well, but squeezed another save from the wonderful Alison.
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Leo Messi in the struggle
(Reuters)
94 minutes: Referee Andreas Konya whistled for the end, Argentina and Brazil parted ways with 0: 0!
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Argentina players thank the crowd at the end
(Reuters)
The composition of Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Marcus Aconia, Giovanni Lu Celso (Nicolas Dominguez, 86), Christian Romero (Hermann Petzella, 53), Nicolas Ottmandi, Nahuel Molina, Rodrigo de Paul, Lando Pardes (Lucas Martinez, 46), Angel Di Maria (Julian Albers, 74), Leo Messi and Otto Martinez (Angel Correa, 46).
The composition of Brazil: Allison, Alex Sandro, Matthews Cuneo (Gabriel Jesus, 86), Marcinius, Danilo, Fabigno, Fred, Adar Militau, Lucas Pacta (Gerson, 79), Raffinia (Anthony, 70) and Vinicius Jr.
Uruguay has become significantly entangled and is likely to find itself outside the World Cup in Qatar. Juan Arsa gave Bolivia the first lead in the 29th minute, in the 40th minute Marcelo Moreno doubled the lead. In the 74th minute, the Bolivian Carmelo Algranias left his team with ten players after receiving a red card, but ten minutes before the end, Arsa completed a big double and set a huge 0: 3 for Bolivia over Uruguay, which was left with 16 points in seventh place and as mentioned was very complicated.
Additional results:
Colombia – Paraguay 0: 0
Chile – Ecuador 2: 0 (Pervis Estofinian, 9. Moises Caesado, 90 + 3)
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