Argentina Loses and Brazil Draws in World Cup Qualifying

Thiago Almada (L) from Paraguay vies fort the ball with Lionel Messi from Argentina during a 2026 FIFA World Cup South American qualifier match between Paraguay and Argentina in Asuncion, Paraguay, 14 November 2024. EPA/JUAN PABLO PINO

Asharq Al Awsat

06:45-15 November 2024 AD ـ 14 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

06:45-15 November 2024 AD ـ 14 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Argentina Loses and Brazil Draws in World Cup Qualifying

Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazil's Vinicius Júnior had frustrating nights in South American World Cup qualifying.
While Messi could not help his team avoid a 2-1 defeat at Paraguay, Vinicius Junior missed a second-half penalty as Brazil was held to a 1-1 draw at Venezuela on Thursday.
Argentina will remain on the top of the 10-team round robin competition with a 22 points in 11 matches, Brazil is provisionally in third place in the standings with 17 points.
Also on Thursday, Ecuador beat Bolivia 4-0. The Ecuadorians remain in fifth position with 16 points, while Bolivia is in eighth place with 12 points.
The 11th round of South American World Cup qualifying will continue on Friday with second-place Colombia visiting Uruguay and the bottom two teams in the standings, Peru and Chile, facing off in Lima.
An anti-Messi message Argentina played at Paraguay with the hosts having banned local fans from wearing any Messi shirts in the home crowd. TV footage of the match in Asuncion showed that the vast majority of the local crowd was wearing Paraguay’s red and white colors, with no Messi shirts visible in the local broadcasts.
Messi had few opportunities to touch the ball during the first half, but saw Lautaro Martínez open the scoring in the 11th minute with a crossed shot. The goal was allowed after a video review.
Paraguay scored the equalizer with a bicycle kick by Antonio Sanabria in the 19th minute, shortly after defender Gustavo Gómez hit the bar with a header.
The hosts continued to apply pressure, and gave the Argentine star some heavy marking. Messi showed he was upset with Brazilian referee Anderson Daronco for not sending off Paraguay's Omar Alderete for his aggressive tackles.
It was Alderete who scored Paraguay's winner with a header in the 47th minute, which puts Paraguay back in contention for a spot in the next World Cup.
“We came to a hard place where the national team always struggled,” said Martínez. “We have to correct a lot of things we did wrong in this match, but generally speaking we are playing well. We are still in the lead, and we have to look forward.”
A disappointing night for Vinicius Júnior Vinicius Júnior is still without a goal in six matches of World Cup qualifying.
He had the chance to score a potential winner after he earned the penalty in the 67th minute but his low spot kick was saved by goalkeeper Rafael Romo.
Brazil had the best chances in the first half, with Vinicius hitting the post once after dribbling three Venezuelans and shooting from the edge of the box. But it was Raphinha who opened the scoring from a free kick in the 43rd minute.
Venezuela brought on 21-year-old Telasco Segovia at halftime and the substitution had an immediate effect as he equalized in the 46th minute with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
Venezuela went down to 10 men in the 89th minute after Alexander Gonzalez was sent off for hitting both Gabriel Martinelli and Vinicius Júnior in the face.

‘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 Loses and Brazil Draws in World Cup Qualifying

Argentina Loses and Brazil Draws in World Cup Qualifying

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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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