Crushing Brazil with an unbelievable 4-1 score in the "South American super classic", Argentina doubled their joy after winning an early ticket to the 2026 World Cup. Continuously leading the South American region with impressive victories, Argentina firmly holds a place in the 2026 World Cup finals right from the series of matches taking place at the end of 2024. The team led by coach Lionel Scaloni only did not expect that they would receive such a big "gift" from Bolivia when this team shared points with Uruguay in the early match on March 26, thereby creating a big gap between the top team Argentina and the 7th position on the rankings.
The South American World Cup qualifiers are awarded 6.5 places at the 2026 World Cup, with 6 teams qualifying directly for the finals and the 7th team having to play a play-off against a representative from another region. Seventh-placed Venezuela are 13 points behind, while eighth-placed Bolivia are 14 points behind with four games remaining, meaning they could never catch Argentina even if "La Albiceleste" were to stumble in all of these matches.
The joy that came early before the kick-off of the "South American Super Classic" gave Argentina more motivation and confidence when welcoming their arch-rival Brazil. Both sides were missing key players (Argentina without Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez; Brazil without Neymar, Gabriel Magalhaes, Alisson Becker), so in terms of force, the difference was not too great, the heavy defeat against the neighbor with many debts only made the "Selecao"'s pain longer.
Argentina is the 7th team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. (Photo: AFA)
Goals from Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis MacAllister and Giuliano Simeone helped Argentina to a 4-1 victory while the visitors Brazil only had a consolation goal from Matheus Cunha. Not only did Argentina dominate the score, they also controlled the game completely even though the home team did not have much possession (53% and 47%).
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No one knows whether Lionel Messi will continue to accompany Argentina in the upcoming North American finals or not, but "La Albiceleste" has quickly affirmed that they no longer depend on this superstar. Messi has been absent many times in the last 14 qualifying rounds, but Argentina is still confident in "dealing with" noisy neighbors - from Brazil, Uruguay to Colombia...
Except for three times not participating (1938, 1950, 1954) due to political reasons and one time not qualifying (1970), Argentina is aiming for its 19th appearance in the World Cup finals, behind only Brazil and Germany. With a squad that is a combination of veterans and talented young faces, Argentina is dreaming of defending the championship to win the World Cup for the 4th time - an achievement equal to Germany and only behind Brazil in the number of gold cups.
The resounding victory at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires confirmed that Argentina deserved to be awarded the first ticket from South America to the 2026 World Cup, the starting point for the journey to defend the world championship won in Qatar in the winter of 2022.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/argentina-chung-minh-dang-cap-196250326212821398.htm
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