Argentina and Brazil suffer jolts in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers

Rodriguez’s penalty sealed the deal for Colombia
| Photo Credit: AP

World champion Argentina suffered its second defeat in CONMEBOL qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup with a James Rodriguez penalty condemning it to a 1-2 loss to Colombia on Tuesday while a lacklustre Brazil went down to Paraguay 0-1 in Asuncion.

The victory was sweet revenge for a Colombia team which had lost to Argentina in July’s final of the Copa America.

Colombia took the lead in the 25th minute when Rodriguez chipped a cross from a short corner to the back post where Yerson Mosquera rose to head home.

With Rodriguez prompting in midfield and Luis Diaz a threat with his pace down the flanks, Colombia was well on top in the opening half against a sluggish Argentina, without the injured Lionel Messi.

But three minutes after the interval, the visitor drew level when a misplaced pass from Rodriguez was pounced upon by Nicolas Gonzalez, who raced away, held off Mosquera and slotted past the advancing Colombia ’keeper Camilo Vargas.

Twelve minutes later, though, Colombia restored its lead in controversial fashion.

Daniel Munoz went down after a lunging challenge from Nicolas Otamendi and after several minutes, the referee was sent to the VAR monitor and awarded a penalty. Rodriguez stepped up to the spot, against penalty specialist Emiliano Martinez and confidently slotted home.

Gomez strikes

It was a first-half goal by Diego Gomez that gave Paraguay a much-deserved win against the five-time world champion.

Dorival Jr’s team is fifth in South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with 10 points, ahead of Venezuela on goal difference. Brazil failed to record a shot on target in the first half and fell behind in the 20th minute when Gomez rifled home from the edge of the box.

The results: Colombia 2 (Mosquera 25, Rodriguez 60-pen) bt Argentina 1 (Gonzalez 48); Ecuador 1 (Valencia 54) bt Peru 0.

Chile 1 (Vargas 39) lost to Bolivia 2 (lgaranaz 13, Terceros 45+1); Venezuela 0 drew with Uruguay 0; Paraguay 1 (Gomez 20) bt Brazil 0.