In a match delayed to remove as much water as possible after heavy rains flooded the ground at the Estadio Monumental in Maturin before the match, Argentina faced Venezuela on the road to the 2026 World Cup.
And in one of the ugliest matches of the South American qualifiers, both teams tied 1-1 and took a point that is always important for qualification.
With this result, Argentina reached 19 points and extended their lead at the top of the table over Colombia, who remained with 16 after losing 1-0 to Bolivia in El Alto.
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Venezuela now has 11 points and provisionally moved up to sixth place, which gives them the chance to play in the play-offs pending Brazil’s performance against Chile later on.
Argentina’s goal was scored by Nicolas Otamendi (13′) and Venezuela’s was scored by Salomon Rondon (65′).
For Venezuela, tying against the world and Copa America champions is a great achievement and a great reward for their efforts, but not so much for their football, since it was practically impossible to play well on the flooded pitch.
Despite this, Lionel Messi showed courage by playing the full 90 minutes and although he provided some quality details, he was unable to truly display his magic.
Messi had the chance to break the tie, but he had to shoot too hard and his shot crashed into the goalkeeper’s body.
It is clear that the Inter Miami star is into football, that is where he displays all his art, and not “water football”, which is similar, but is a different sport.
Argentina, despite having 60 percent possession, was not the team that shot the most on goal, but Venezuela, who shot twice as many (16-8) and better (6-4 on target), scored a well-deserved draw in front of their home fans.
Visiting coach Lionel Scaloni introduced some changes to his starting eleven with a 4-4-2 formation bringing in Thiago Almada and centre-backs German Pezzela and Otamendi.
The team that left was Geronimo Rulli, Nahuel Molina, Pezella, Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico, Messi, and Julian Alvarez.
In other matches of the day, Bolivia, with a goal by Miguel Terceros in the 58th minute, gave the surprise by beating Colombia 1-0 in La Paz, which with the defeat remained in second place with 16 points while Bolivia with 12 moved up to fifth.
Ecuador, with Leonardo Campana, tied 0-0 against Paraguay, with Diego Gomez, who did not play due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Those from the middle of the world are in fourth place with 12 points and the Guaranis are in eighth place with 10, pending Brazil vs. Chile.
The first half ended 1-0 in favor of Argentina with a fairly even game, but one that was marred by the accumulation of water that prevented three passes in a row without the ball stopping, also stopping any counterattack and leading to some others as well.
Argentina had a little more possession (56%) tied-in shots (6-6) and accuracy (3-3 on target), but they were more successful in front of the goal.
The goal for Argentina was scored by Otamendi in the 13th minute when he shot with his right foot from the edge of the six-yard box, low to the very centre of the goal, after a rebound from Venezuela’s goalkeeper Rafael Romo, following a vicious free kick taken from the left by Messi that made it 1-0.
Both teams fought for every ball rather than playing and had their chances. Venezuela had two great shots from outside the area, which was easy for goalkeeper Rulli, who in the end did what he could with a point-blank shot from Rondon, which Otamendi later cleared from a meter from the goal.
There was nothing but battle for the rest of the first 45 minutes and the world champions went into the break leading 1-0.
In the second, the Vinotinto went on the attack, putting more effort into reaching each ball and looking more for Rulli’s goal until they were rewarded in the 65th minute.
A great cross from the left by Yeferson Soteldo, who left the substitute full-back Gonzalo Montiel in the lurch, was finished with power between the two center-backs by Rondon to make it 1-1 and unleash madness at the Monumental de Maturin.
It was then that Argentina woke up and looked for Romo’s goal more, but time ran out and they had to settle for a draw that was not enough for them.
