Diego Gomez gave Paraguay the 1-0 win over Brazil’s no longer powerful team, to turn the South American qualifier upside down to the 2026 World Cup.
In the 20th minute, Gomez took the ball on the edge of the area and after a big cut he threw a missile with the outside of his right leg, which after hitting the pole was introduced to the Brazilian goal, to mark the only one of the game and the first for his account with the major selection and overcome with his performance stars like Vinicius, Rodrigo and company.
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Brazil was left with 10 points in 8 games and fell from fourth to fifth in the standings, surpassed by Ecuador, with 11, after its 1-0 triumph against an unknown Peru, who is a colista with just three points.
Paraguay reached six points and climbed to 7th place, to only one from Brazil and Venezuela, which dropped to 6th with 10 after its 0-0 draw with Uruguay, which already without Luis Suarez remained in third place with 15 points.
The main course of the day was Colombia’s 2-1 home triumph against Argentina, in a punter duel that was defined with the goal of the triumph scored by James Rodriguez.
Argentina with 18 points continues as the leader of the elimination, but now has Colombia closer, which is second with 16 and next to the Albiceleste is playing very well.
The Argentine team missed the heat of its people, as in the farewell of Angel di Maria in the previous match, and especially its captain Lionel Messi, who did not participate on this date because he was recovering from an injury to the right ankle, precisely before the coffee shops in the final of the Copa America.
Messi continues to practice with Inter Miami, although this Wednesday he could not be seen in the 15 minutes of training open to the media.
Later journalist Gaston Edul, who covers the Argentine team, reassured everyone with a message on his X account. Lionel Messi trained again today despite having a flu-like illness.
Was there no setback with his ankle recovery? He is still on track to return in one of the next two Inter Miami games, Edul wrote on the social network.
Messi’s status, as well as that of Matias Rojas, who was not seen coaching either, is now in doubt although it is expected that both will be able to play on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union at Chase Stadium, in what would be Leo’s great return with the Miami team to face the important final straight of seven games.
In another match of the elimination, Bolivia climbed to eighth place with 9 points after beating 2-1 a disappointing Chilean team, which dropped to penultimate place (9no) with four points.
The next FIFA date will be played on October 10 and 15 and it is hoped that Messi will already be able to participate with Argentina against Venezuela and Bolivia, since Inter Miami plays its last two games on October 5 against Toronto and then 19 against New England.
The Miami team has 59 points and needs to get 15 of the remaining 21 to take the Supporters Shield, which would credit him as the best team of the season.
For this, he has the internationals Messi, Suarez, and Gomez, in addition to David Ruiz who shone with Honduras.
In turn, their selections are fighting to qualify for the 2026 World Cup organized jointly by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
In this South American qualifier, they directly classify the first six teams and the 7th will play the repechage, while in the Concacaf they get the direct ticket for the first three and the 4th goes to the rest.
