Argentina will visit Venezuela in the early morning of October 11 (Vietnam time) with the determination to return to victory after losing to Colombia in the last match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers last month.
Coach Lionel Scaloni welcomed back Lionel Messi and partnered him up front with Julian Alvarez in a 4-3-1-2 formation. Venezuela were in mid-table ahead of this game, but the weather was a sign of a bad day for Argentina.
The match was delayed due to rain affecting the pitch. It was no surprise to see a difficult start as the ball was covered in puddles.
Argentina were of course in a more difficult position, so set pieces became important. And that's how the visitors found the opening goal.
Goalkeeper Rafael Romo had a poor clearance that found Nicolas Otamendi, who tapped the ball into an empty net to silence the home crowd.
Salomon Rondon had a great chance to equalise midway through the half as he headed towards goal, but the ball stopped on the waterlogged pitch and allowed the home defence to intervene.
Rondon had another chance just before the break when he volleyed home from close range, but Geronimo Rulli saved.
Despite Argentina taking the lead, the home side dominated the first half and quickly made that clear as the second half began, leaving Rulli to work early from Yangel Herrera's powerful header.
Venezuela kept up the pressure and finally equalized in the 65th minute. Rondon finally found the net when he jumped high to head the ball into the net.
In such pitch conditions, both teams seemed content with a point. Coordination became difficult and therefore there were no clear-cut chances.
Although extending their winless run in qualifying to five matches, the point put Venezuela ahead of Brazil before the Selecao finished their match against Chile.
As for Argentina, they still top the group and extend the gap to 3 points with Colombia - who lost 0-1 in Bolivia. Ecuador and Paraguay drew 0-0 in the remaining match.
