The Argentine national team suffered its second defeat in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America at the hands of Colombia 2-1, in the eighth round matches.
Lionel Messi missed the match due to the injury he sustained in the 2024 Copa America final last July, which brought together Argentina and Colombia and the “Silver Country” won by a clean goal.
Since the beginning of the qualifiers match, things were tense between the two parties, as Colombian fans booed while the Argentine national anthem was being played.
The Argentine players responded to that by pointing to the Copa America champion’s badge on Lionel Scaloni’s squad shirt.
Mosquera opened the scoring for Colombia in the 25th minute, then Nicolas Gonzalez equalized for Argentina in the 48th minute, before James Rodriguez scored the winning goal for his country from a penalty kick.
A few hours later, another giant in South America, Brazil, was defeated by hosts Paraguay with a clean goal scored by Diego Gomez.
Brazil’s decline continues, as this is the fourth defeat suffered by Vinicius Junior’s teammates in 4-8 rounds in the qualifiers, which crystallizes the crisis that the current generation of the Selecao is going through.
Despite Argentina’s defeat, it maintained its lead in the qualifiers with 18 points, while Colombia reached second place with 16 points.
In contrast, Brazil’s balance froze at 10 points in fifth place, and its position is somewhat critical if it does not succeed in improving its results in the coming rounds.
Six teams from the South American continent qualify directly for the World Cup, while the seventh-place team will play in the global play-off.
