Led by Lionel Messi, who scored a hat-trick and provided two assists, Argentina beat Bolivia 6-0 to reaffirm its lead in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The world champions were a true footballing machine on Tuesday at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.
Argentina completely dominated the match (72.2%) with 14 shots on goal compared to their rival’s four (10-1 on target).
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Messi opened the scoring in the 19th minute after a one-on-one with Bolivia goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra, following a steal by Lautaro Martinez, who scored the second in the 43rd minute after a great pass from Leo.
The Inter Miami star took a free kick from halfway to Julian Alvarez, who got behind an opposing defender and scored the third before half-time (45+3).
Thiago Almada scored the fourth in the 69th minute before Messi completed his hat trick with goals in the 84th and 86th minutes to complete the scandalous rout, assisted by Exequiel Palacios and Nico Paz.
At 37 years old and recovered from an ankle injury, Messi had one of his best performances with the Argentine national team in front of his home crowd, after almost a year of absence.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner last played on home soil in November 2023 in a 2-0 loss to Uruguay.
“It’s great to come here and feel the affection of the people. I’m touched by the way they shout my name. We all enjoy the connection with the people and we love being here, playing in Argentina. We’re happy with the victory,” Messi said.
Argentina leads the Conmebol qualifiers with 22 points. Colombia is next with 19 points, having earlier crushed Chile 4-0, and is still down by five points in this qualifying round after practically not showing up at the Roberto Melendez Metropolitan Stadium in Barranquilla on Tuesday.
The Colombian team had the opposite result, with a footballing atmosphere that gave them a poker of goals with goals from Davison Sanchez (34′), Luis Diaz (52′), Jhon Duran (82′), and Luis Sinisterra (93′), leaving Chile’s coach Ricardo Gareca on the tightrope.
Uruguay remained third with 16 points after a 0-0 draw against Ecuador, which is fifth with 13, after a turbulent FIFA date for the Charruas.
Despite criticism for their play, Brazil climbed to fourth place, also with 16 points, after beating Peru 4-0.
Finally, Paraguay came back against Venezuela and ended up winning the match 2-1 to close the date in sixth place with 13 points.
The biggest losers were Venezuela, which fell to eighth place with 11 points, behind Bolivia, which is seventh with 12 and above a horrible Peru, which is in ninth place with six points, and an unknown Chile in 10th place with five.
The 10th round of the CONMEBOL qualifiers saw Colombia thrash Chile 4-0, Argentina 6-0 against Bolivia, and Brazil 4-0 against Peru. Paraguay beat Venezuela 2-1 and Uruguay and Ecuador drew 0-0.
Following these results, Argentina remained in first place with 22 points, followed by Colombia with 19, Uruguay, and Brazil with 13 units. In fifth place is Ecuador with 13 and Paraguay which also has 13 units, Bolivia is seventh with 12, Venezuela is eighth with 11, and Peru and Chile are still in last place with 6 and 5 points respectively.
