Argentina was held to a 1-1 draw by Venezuela on Lionel Messi’s comeback, while Brazil’s 2026 World Cup qualification campaign resumed with a last-gasp 2-1 triumph over Chile on Thursday.
Messi, who missed Argentina’s last round of fixtures in September due to injury, appeared to have placed the world champions on track for victory as his free-kick set up Nicolas Otamendi’s 13th-minute goal in Maturin, Venezuela.
But Venezuela’s tenacious play in front of their home crowd was rewarded midway through the second half when veteran striker Salomon Rondon met Yeferson Soteldo’s cross with a header that soared past Argentina goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
Despite the dropped points, Argentina, the 2022 World Cup winners, remains on track to compete in the 2026 finals, which will be held in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
With the event enlarged to 48 teams, the top six finishers from South America’s 10-team round-robin qualifying phase will advance to the finals.
Argentina leads the rankings with 19 points from nine games, three points ahead of second-place Colombia, which lost 1-0 to Bolivia in other qualifying play on Thursday.
While Argentina appears to be on track to qualify easily, Brazil’s qualification campaign is still proving difficult.
Chile, who are one place from the bottom of the standings, stunned Brazil after only two minutes, when veteran attacker Eduardo Vargas looped a header over Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson to score it 1-0.
But Brazil drew level in first-half stoppage time after Savinho worked himself into space before crossing for Botafogo forward Igor Jesus to head home.
The match looked destined to finish in a draw until the 89th minute, when Brazil substitute Luiz Henrique arrowed in a low shot from the edge of the area to make it 2-1.
The win moves Brazil into fourth place in the standings with 13 points from nine games, six points adrift from leaders Brazil.
Bolivia boost
Elsewhere Thursday, Bolivia boosted their hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 1994 with their gutsy 1-0 win over Colombia in a game played in the thin air of El Alto, which is situated at around 4,150m (13,600 feet) above sea level.
A superb individual goal from Miguel Terceros handed the Bolivians their fourth victory of qualifying and vaulted them up into the automatic qualification positions.
Bolivia’s fortunes have taken a dramatic upturn since the team started playing qualifiers in El Alto, which is just over 500m higher than the Bolivians’ usual home venue of the Estadio Hernando Siles in nearby La Paz.
Bolivia opted to move fixtures to El Alto after losing two out of their opening three home qualifiers in La Paz last year.
The move has paid off, with Thursday’s 1-0 win coming after a 4-0 rout of Venezuela at the same venue in September.
After claiming a shock 2-1 win away to Chile last month, Bolivia are now sitting in sixth place in the South American standings with 12 points from nine games.
Terceros’s winning goal arrived in the 58th minute, with the 20-year-old winger who plays for Brazilian club Santos cutting in from the right flank, shimmying past Colombian defenders Jhon Lucumi and Kevin Castano and unleashing a left-footed thunderbolt that flew into the top corner.
Bolivia are level on points with Ecuador, who finished the day in fifth place in the table after a 0-0 draw with Paraguay in Quito.