Argentina Beats Peru to Close in on World Cup Spot; Brazil and Uruguay Draw

Soccer Football - World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Argentina v Peru - Estadio Mas Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina - November 19, 2024 Argentina's Lautaro Martinez reacts REUTERS/Rodrigo Valle

Asharq Al Awsat

06:06-20 November 2024 AD ـ 19 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

06:06-20 November 2024 AD ـ 19 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Argentina Beats Peru to Close in on World Cup Spot; Brazil and Uruguay Draw

Lautaro Martínez's goal gave Argentina a 1-0 win over Peru on Tuesday in a South American qualifying match in Buenos Aires and left the hosts close to a spot in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, The Associated Press reported.
Its main continental rivals Brazil drew 1-1 against Uruguay in Salvador, Brazil with two impressive goals in an otherwise lackluster match. Federico Valverde gave Uruguay the lead with a curled shot from the edge of the box, and Gerson netted his first for Brazil in similar fashion at the Arena Fonte Nova.
Argentina leads South American qualifying with 25 points from 12 matches, five points clear of its closest competitor, Uruguay. Ecuador and Colombia are next with 19 points each.
Brazil lags in fifth position with 18 points after several uninspiring performances, still hoping that striker Neymar will return from injury and fit in again. Paraguay, with 17 points, is in sixth place.
South American qualifying will give six direct berths in the next World Cup. Seventh-place Bolivia, with 13 points, is in the international playoff position. Venezuela (12), Chile (9), and Peru (7) are out of qualifying spots.
The next round of South American World Cup qualifying will be played in March.
Uninspiring Argentina Martínez's goal was his 32nd for the national team, which puts him level with the legendary Diego Maradona.
Until Martínez scored, Argentina's best chance was in the 21st minute, when striker Julián Alvarez hit the Peruvian goalkeeper's right post. Messi once again had a modest performance, as he did in his team's 2-1 defeat at Paraguay on Thursday.
Messi crossed the ball in the penalty area in the 55th minute to give Martínez one of the few clear opportunities of the match. The striker moved his body with more grace than power to put the ball in the back of the next.
Despite the disappointing performance at home, Lionel Messi's team will finish the year with few question marks beyond its performances in November.
“We won Copa America, we lead South American World Cup qualifying,” said goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. “We must be proud of ourselves.”
Jeers for Brazil Brazil fans at home in Salvador jeered their team after the final whistle. In a match with few opportunities for either side, Uruguay seemed closer to winning for most of the second half.
Valverde opened the scoring in the 55th minute after Brazilian defenders failed three times to clear the ball from their penalty area. The Real Madrid midfielder hit the ball to the left corner to score. Gerson equalized in the 61st minute.
Striker Raphinha said he understood the frustration from his team's fans, but disagreed with them.
“We played great. We did everything we could to leave here with a victory. We must have our heads high up, it will be very tough to beat us,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, Ecuador won 1-0 at Colombia with a goal by Enner Valencia in the seventh minute, in which he dribbled through three players before scoring. Ecuador lost defender Piero Hincapié to a red card in the 34th minute but held on for the win.
Bolivia and Paraguay drew 2-2 in a match between teams that could end up fighting for the seventh position in the region's qualifying. Chile, one of the worst performing teams in the region this year, showed some fighting spirit and beat Venezuela 4-2.

‘They Killed Her Dream’: Israel Strike Leaves Lebanese Woman Footballer in Coma

An undated handout photo obtained from the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) on November 19, 2024, shows Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar celebrating with a tournament cup after a football match in Jordan. (Lebanese Football Association / AFP)

09:34-20 November 2024 AD ـ 19 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

‘They Killed Her Dream’: Israel Strike Leaves Lebanese Woman Footballer in Coma

Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar was about to make her dream of playing for the national women's team come true, but debris from an Israeli strike left the 19-year-old in a medically induced coma.

After full-blown war erupted in September, Haidar's family were among more than a million people who fled south Beirut and other Hezbollah strongholds, as Israeli bombs rained down.

"But Celine had to come back to (south) Beirut for her studies and training," her father Abbas Haidar told AFP.

"She would leave the house after evacuation calls were issued or bombing intensified, then she'd come back home at night to sleep," he said.

Now, she is the latest athlete to become a casualty of Israeli strikes, which already forced the Lebanese Football Association to postpone all domestic football competitions indefinitely.

On Saturday, her father called her to warn of new evacuation orders published by the Israeli military online and she left the house.

But soon after, "my wife called to tell me Celine was in the hospital," he said.

She had been seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on her home neighborhood of Chiyah, as the air force pummeled Beirut's southern suburbs.

- Cracked skull -

Footage of Haidar lying unconscious on the ground, her face covered in blood, while a young man beside her cried in pain took Lebanese social media by storm.

"The strike was close and she was hit in the head," her mother Sanaa Shahrour told AFP. "My daughter has a brain hemorrhage, her skull is cracked."

She said her daughter had sent her a message asking her to prepare her favorite dish, but "an hour later her friend called to say she had been wounded".

"My daughter is a heroine," she said, her eyes red with tears.

"She's strong. She will get back up and play again," she said.

"She dreamt of competing abroad. She said she wanted to be like (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi... She wanted to be a star and for everyone to talk about her.

"Now everyone is talking about her because she was wounded in a war that she has nothing to do with," she said.

"She has beautiful dreams," she said, but "they killed her dream."

- 'A fighter' on the pitch -

Haidar was a pillar of her club, Beirut Football Academy (BFA), which won the Lebanese Women's Football League last season without dropping a single point, and was due to don the captain's armband this season.

The midfielder was also part of the national women's Under-18 team that won the 2022 West Asian Football Federation championship.

Now she is in a medically induced coma, team manager Ziad Saade said.

"The doctors are following her very closely," her father told AFP from the Saint George Hospital in Beirut where his daughter is being treated.

"But her injuries are serious, we hope she will gradually heal," he said with tears in his eyes.

"We're paying the price for something that's not our fault."

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,544 people have been killed since Hezbollah began trading fire with Israel in October last year, with most deaths recorded since Israel stepped up its campaign in September.

"On the pitch, she's a fighter, she was the link between defense and attack," coach Samer Barbary said, as he and teammates visited her at the hospital.

"She is an exceptional girl and an excellent player."

Argentina Beats Peru to Close in on World Cup Spot; Brazil and Uruguay Draw

Argentina Beats Peru to Close in on World Cup Spot; Brazil and Uruguay Draw

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‘They Killed Her Dream’: Israel Strike Leaves Lebanese Woman Footballer in Coma

‘They Killed Her Dream’: Israel Strike Leaves Lebanese Woman Footballer in Coma

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