Montevideo:
Colombia avenged its defeat in the Copa America final with a 2-1 win over Argentina while Brazil lost 1-0 to Paraguay in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday.
Captain James Rodriguez converted a tense 60th-minute penalty to seal a narrow win for Colombia over the world champions, who were without injured captain Lionel Messi.
It was revenge for Colombia, which lost 1-0 to Argentina in a disappointing Copa America final in Miami two months ago.
“I don’t think I’ve ever scored against them,” Colombia captain Rodriguez said of the winning penalty. “There’s a first time in everything.”
“We want to get used to playing finals. Today was just another game, but against a team that has won everything – this win tastes even better.”
The victory over the Metropolitano Stadium in Barranquilla raised Colombia to second place in the South American qualifiers, which include ten teams, with 16 points out of eight, just two points behind leaders Argentina.
Colombia, backed by an enthusiastic crowd, took the lead in the 25th minute when Rodriguez crossed to the back post and Yerson Mosquera headed home.
But three minutes after the start of the second half, the visiting team equalized when Nicolas Gonzalez took advantage of a misplaced pass from Rodriguez, who ran quickly and put it past Colombia’s advancing goalkeeper, Camilo Vargas.
But twelve minutes later Colombia restored their lead in controversial fashion.
Nicolas Otamendi made a violent collision with Daniel Munoz, and after several minutes, Chilean referee Piero Mazza was sent to the VAR screen and awarded a penalty kick.
Rodriguez stepped forward and scored confidently, sending Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine penalty kick specialist, in the wrong direction.
Colombian striker John Duran wasted a great opportunity to make the score 3-1 when he was found unmarked in the middle of the penalty area, but he shot directly in the direction of Martinez.
Despite the defeat, Argentina is still on track to secure a place in the 2026 World Cup finals hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
With the tournament expanded to include 48 teams, the top six finishers in the South American qualifiers will earn a place in the finals.
The seventh-placed team in the qualifiers will compete in a playoff between the federations, with the bottom three teams eliminated.
Meanwhile, five-time world champions Brazil continued their unconvincing qualifying campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Paraguay in Asuncion.
Inter Miami midfielder Diego Gomez – who is set to join English club Brighton at the end of the season – scored the only goal of the match, as he fired a long-range shot beyond the post in the 20th minute.
The defeat left Brazil in fifth place with ten points, superior on goal difference to Venezuela, which drew 0-0 with its guest Uruguay on Tuesday.
Paraguay advanced to seventh place with nine points after only its second win in the qualifiers.
In other matches, Chile’s qualification hopes suffered another heavy blow on Tuesday after losing 2-1 at home to Bolivia.
After winning the Copa America title twice in a row in 2015 and 2016, the Chileans failed to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The chances of missing the tournament for the third time in a row seemed closer after Carmelo Algaranas and Miguel Terceros scored two goals to give Bolivia a 2-1 win.
The victory left Chile in ninth place in the standings with only five points from eight matches, and Bolivia rose to eighth place on goal difference from Paraguay, which is in seventh place.
On the other hand, Ecuador boosted its qualification hopes with a 1-0 victory over Peru in Quito thanks to a goal from veteran striker Enner Valencia.
Ecuador ranks fourth in the standings with 11 points from eight matches. Peru remains at the bottom of the standings with only three points from 10 matches.