Argentina and Brazil .. Negative results and hot events, and "Tango" did not celebrate qualification
Messi played in the starting lineup.
AFP
Argentina qualified for the 2022 World Cup in football despite being tied with its guest and rival Brazil without goals on Tuesday in a dull and rough match, within the 14th stage of the South American qualifiers, as the rest of the results were in its interest to participate in the major global event for the thirteenth consecutive time.
Despite the draw, the teammates of the legend Lionel Messi booked their ticket to the World Cup, after Chile lost to Ecuador 0-2 and Uruguay against Bolivia 0-3.
While the first four teams from the unified group qualify and the fifth plays a play-off, Albi Celeste raised his score to 29 points from 13 games, 12 points ahead of Colombia and Peru, who played more matches and are facing each other in the next round, which means that he is guaranteed to occupy one of the four places. First.
The Argentine national team continued its positive path in 2021, after winning the Copa America title at the expense of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.
This is the thirteenth consecutive time and the 18th in its history that Argentina has participated in the World Cup, and it was crowned twice in 1978 and 1986, knowing that it failed in the qualifiers only once in 1970. And Brazil was the first to qualify for South America, by defeating Colombia 1-0 on Thursday.
The match did not meet expectations between the two largest forces in South America, as Brazil had secured its qualification, while Argentina marched steadily towards the finals, and they are the only two teams without any loss so far.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni pushed Messi, the best player in the world six times, into the starting lineup after returning from injury, and he and his colleagues tried to threaten the Brazilian goal from long distances.
goalkeeper Alisson gave the Brazilian guests confidence in front of shots by Laotaromartines (24) and Rodrigo de Paul (40).
As for Messi, who was
monitored
by his colleague in Paris Saint-Germain
, Marquinhos, his danger was absent until the last minute when he fired a long shot that was thwarted by the Liverpool goalkeeper.
After the match, he said, "I'm fine, otherwise I wouldn't play the match. I stopped a while ago and it's not easy to play a high-tempo match. I hope at the end of a good year."
- Roughness and blood -
On the side of Brazil, flying in the lead, 6 points behind Argentina, Neymar missed a muscle injury, so coach Titi pushed young Vinicius Junior and preferred Matthews Konya over Gabriel Jesus.
The match witnessed roughness, such as Nicholas Otamendi's elbow hitting the Brazilian Rafinha, who bled blood from his lip without expelling the Argentine defender (33).
Brazil looked smoother in midfield with Lucas Paqueta, Fred and Fabinho.
The Argentine model blocked a long shot for Farid (60), while Vinicius Junior sometimes manipulated the Argentine defense without success.
"We played well in every game this year, and we qualified for the World Cup," said Farid.
He continued, "We failed today in the last third, but the most important thing is to return with a clean sheet."
And Brazil failed to avenge Argentina, who dropped it at home in the Maracana stadium last July in the Copa America final.
They met again last September in Brazil, but the match was interrupted five minutes after its start, because representatives of the Brazilian health authorities stormed the “Corinthians” stadium, claiming that the guests had violated the protocols of the Corona virus.
"If we analyze this year, it's beautiful," said Argentina midfielder Rodrigo de Paul. "What we've been through with the fans... Everything has been good."
After the final whistle, Argentina did not celebrate qualification, as it waited for the rest of the competing teams to stumble for fourth place to mathematically guarantee the Qatari trip at the end of next year.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news