Argentina salvaged a draw over the water

This is not a normal football story. Everything was changed by the deluge that forced the start of the game to be delayed by half an hour and flooded the field, making it impassable in many sectors. The ball suddenly slows down, or comes out faster than usual. In that context, Argentina the times he suffered before were interesting Venezuela by Fernando Batista. However, the world champion salvaged a draw that was made all the more important as his runner-up Colombia lost away to Bolivia. So the albiceleste continues to be the sole leader on the road to World Cup 2026.

Not only Lionel Scaloni suffered the absence of Emiliano Martínez (suspended for two dates for attacking a cameraman against Colombia) and Cristian Romero (suspended due to the accumulation of warnings). They also suffered another important loss, that of Nicolás González (injured), surely a replacement for Angel Di María, the recently retired idol of the albiceleste. And outside, too, Alexis Mac Allister, physically “touched.”

In this context, the Albiceleste coach appealed to regular substitutes: Gerónimo Rulli, Nicolás Otamendi and Giovani Lo Celso. Of course, there was one substitute who was a surprise: Thiago Almada, the Brazilian Botafogo striker, a combination that indicated a search for more play and control than explosion. Lo Celso and Almada, together with Rodrigo De Paul and Enzo Fernández, added to Lionel Messi and Julián Alvarez, expressed an offensive intention based on relevant and well-constructed. However, the flood kicked those calculations to the curb.

The game became a kind of lottery in that flooded field. You have to see how every ball hits, where every rebound lands, who slips and who doesn’t… And in that situation, Argentina struck early, in a game with a stopped ball. Messi kicked a free kick from the left, goalkeeper Rafael Romo couldn’t make a good clearance with his fists and the ball was fed to Nicolás Otamendi to push it into the empty goal.

Argentina won at halftime without deserving it. Venezuela adapted better to the “abnormal” terrain. And he had several chances to tie it. The most obvious was Salomón Rondón’s one that was cleared off the line by Otamendi, who had been the scorer moments before with the other goal. There was also a good closing by Germán Pezzella.

A clear fact that Almada’s test against Scaloni did not satisfy him is that he did not come out to play in the second half. The coach put on Gonzalo Montiel and crowned an unprecedented situation in the albiceleste: for the first time two right backs together on the field. Nahuel Molina started playing as a midfielder on that wing. There is another intention in that change: to strengthen the sector where Yeferson Soteldo was hurt by his daring overflow.

In any case, Argentina did not improve at the start of the second half. Venezuela pushed it against its goal. First, Enzo Fernández went to the ground and took the tie from Rondón. And after the corner, Gerónimo Rulli took a header from Yangel Herrera, who drew a sensational save, as if confirming that he was following Dibu Martínez’s line.

Argentina with two right backs in the field was also unable to control that sector. Soteldo continued to worry. And with one of his crosses, Rondón popped up with a magnificent header to tie the game and prove his scoring hierarchy. There are 25 minutes left…

Scaloni moved the bank again. Inside a central defender, Leonardo Balerdi, for a creative midfielder, Lo Celso. Argentina configured with a 5-4-1, with Messi as the sole attacker and with Julián Alvarez on the left wing.

Messi had a one-on-one after a good pass from De Paul, but goalkeeper Romo blocked it. Lautaro Martínez and Leandro Paredes came on in the last ten minutes. But nothing has changed. Argentina salvaged a drawn tie, a point that served them well. You already know why.

TECHNICAL SHEET

1 – Venezuela: Rafael Romo; Jon Aramburu, Nahuel Ferraresi, Yordan Osorio, Alexander González; Yangel Herrera, José ‘el Brujo’ Martínez, Tomás Rincón (d.59, Jhonder Cádiz); Jefferson Savarino (d.59, Darwin Machís), Salomón Rondón, Yeferson Soteldo.
1 – Argentina: Gerónimo Rulli; Nicolás Tagliafico, Germán Pezzella, Nicolás Otamendi, Nahuel Molina; Enzo Fernández (m.85, Leandro Paredes), Giovani Lo Celso (m.68, Leonardo Balerdi), Rodrigo De Paul, Thiago Almada (m.46, Gonzalo Montiel); Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez (m.85, Lautaro Martínez).
Objectives: 0-1, Nicolás Otamendi (m. 13); 1-1, Salomón Rondón (d. 65)
Referee: Uruguayan Gustavo Tejeda warned José ‘El brujo’ Martínez and Germán Pezzella.
Incidents: The match of the ninth round of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, played at the Monumental Stadium in the city of Maturín, Venezuela.