Lionel Messi scored two objectives as Argentina stretched out their ideal beginning to South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday with a 2-0 triumph over Peru. The Entomb Miami star took his global objective count to 106 with strikes in the 32nd and 42nd minutes at Lima’s Estadio Nacional. Messi’s first-half support left ruling title holders Argentina on top of the South American qualifying table with 12 focuses from four games, five focuses clear of Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela, who all have seven focuses.
Reestablished to the getting line-up in the wake of coming going the seat in last Thursday’s 1-0 win over Paraguay, Messi gave no indication of the wounds that have as of late restricted his appearances in Significant Association Soccer.
The 36-year-old crashed home an insistent opener soon after the half-hour mark, then added a second 10 minutes after the fact after great work by Enzo Fernandez down the left flank.
The success leaves Argentina immovably on target to get back to the World Cup finals in 2026, which are being extended to incorporate 48 groups and will be co-facilitated by the US, Mexico and Canada.
The main six groups in South America’s 10-group qualifying contest will be ensured a spot at the finals.
While Argentina proceeded with their tranquil advancement through qualifying, chief opponents Brazil experienced a horrible 2-0 loss in Montevideo, colliding with a first misfortune against Uruguay in quite a while.
The loss was intensified by seeing veteran forward Neymar being stretchered off not long before half-time with what gave off an impression of being a knee injury.
Uruguay’s Darwin Nunez hit with a slug header on 42 minutes to open the scoring in a dismal first half at the Estadio Centenario.
The Liverpool striker then assumed a vital part in Uruguay’s second, holding up the ball well from a toss in and scaling back for Nicolas de la Cruz to fire past Brazil goalkeeper Ederson on 77 minutes, fixing a 2-0 triumph.
The success was Uruguay’s most memorable over Brazil in a World Cup qualifying installation since a 1-0 triumph over the Selecao in Montevideo in July 2001.
The loss denoted one more disheartening outcome for five-time title holders Brazil, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Venezuela last week in the past round.
Brazilian group authorities said Neymar would go through assessments in Sao Paulo on Wednesday to evaluate the idea of his physical issue.
Venezuela in the mean time helped their expectations of arriving at the World Cup interestingly with a great 3-0 defeat of Chile in Maturin.
Winger Yeferson Soteldo was the star for La Vinotinto, scoring the initial objective and defining up final part objectives for veteran striker Salomon Rondon and Darwin Machis.
Soteldo opened the scoring in stoppage time toward the finish of the main half, wounding a low calculated shot into the base corner to the joy of a rowdy home group.
The Santos winger turned supplier for Venezuela’s second, blasting down the passed on flank and scaling back for Rondon to clear home from short proximity on 72 minutes.
Yet again soteldo was likewise engaged with Venezuela’s third, tracking down space on the left wing and crossing for a plain Machis to make it 3-0.
Somewhere else Tuesday, Paraguay got their most memorable success of the qualifiers, overcoming modest Bolivia 1-0 in Asuncion with a 69th-minute strike from Antonio Sanabria.
Bolivia stay lower part of the standings while Paraguay are seventh with three focuses from four games.
In Quito in the mean time, Colombia kept up with their unbeaten beginning to qualifiers with a 0-0 attract away to Ecuador.
