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Paraguay put four points between themselves and seventh-placed Venezuela after coming from behind to beat Argentina for the first time on home soil since 2009. With the aim of creating a hostile atmosphere where only the colors of the Albirroja are present, Paraguayan president Fernando Villasboa banned fans from wearing any jersey with Lionel Messi’s name.
The provocative move just looked to anger wounded animal Messi, having been knocked out of the MLS playoffs days prior. It took just over 10 minutes for La Albiceleste to deservedly poke their noses in front through Lautaro Martínez, who survived an offside VAR review when finishing well left-footed after latching onto an Enzo Fernández chipped through ball. In previous qualification campaigns, Paraguay would have folded tamely, but this time remarkably pulled level through a career highlight reel effort from Torino forward Antonio Sanabria.
Having scored just once in five matches following his brace against Venezuela, he had the audacity to not only attempt but pull off an unstoppable overhead kick to send the partisan home crowd wild. After a few rash challenges during the first half, Lionel Scaloni opted to replace Cristian Romero at HT – a decision which he would rue moments after the restart. Perhaps lucky to be on the pitch himself after avoiding a second yellow, Omar Alderete rose highest to guide his header back across Emiliano Martínez after Diego Gómez hung up a free-kick from the left.
After conceding only one goal in their last four Internationals, Paraguay were typically difficult to break down. That proved to be the case, in spite of a glaring miss from Rodrigo De Paul when clean through on goal as his International drought dating back to 2022 continued. Victory for Paraguay leaves them with a four-point cushion over Venezuela in the play-off spot, while Argentina hold onto the top spot with qualification all but secured already.
