The Argentina national team achieved a hard-fought victory over Chile, winning 2-1 in their match during the 15th round of the South American World Cup qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup early Friday. The win was thanks to Angel Di Maria and Lautaro Martinez, who managed to score against Chile despite the absence of captain Lionel Messi. Coach "Tango Dancers" chose to rest Messi after his previous COVID-19 infection, allowing Di Maria to give the visiting team the lead with a shot from outside the box in the 10th minute.
In the 21st minute, player Ben Brereton equalized for Chile with a brilliant header from inside the penalty area, fooling the goalkeeper and finding the back of the net. In the 34th minute of the match, Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal, following up on a shot from his teammate that was saved by the goalkeeper and then netted into the Chilean goal.
Both Brazil, who leads the standings, and Argentina secured their spots for the Qatar World Cup, while Ecuador, with 24 points, is close in third place. In a second match that took place at the same time, the Uruguayan team defeated Paraguay 1-0 at the "General Pablo Rojas" stadium. The only goal for Uruguay was scored by Luis Suarez in the 50th minute. With this victory, Uruguay raised their points to 19 in fourth place, keeping their hopes alive for direct qualification to the World Cup, while Paraguay remains in ninth place with 13 points. The top four teams qualify directly for the finals in Qatar, while the fifth place must go through a global playoff against a team from Asia.
