Despite the absence of Lionel Messi and after the great tribute to Ángel Di María, the Argentine National Team beat 3-0 Chile for the Seventh date of the CONMEBOL Qualifiers heading to the 2026 World Cup, with goals from Alexis MacAllister, Julian Alvarez and Paulo Dybala in the second half.
From the start of the match, La Scaloneta monopolised possession of the ball, with the visiting team defending close to the goal guarded by Gabriel Arias. And although the home team struggled to create clear chances, as the minutes passed they began to get closer to scoring, starting with a couple of shots from Julián Álvarez and Rodrigo De Paul and a header from Nico González.
The Albiceleste took control of the midfield and advanced with the support of their wing-backs, who were freed up by the firmness of their three defenders, but showed some deficiencies in translating their dominance into dangerous shots. In fact, the clearest chance of the first half was Matías Catalán’s header against the post that was close to silencing a Monumental packed with Argentine fans, despite the suspension of the lower stands at the Núñez stadium.
And everything that Argentina had not been able to do clearly in the first half, they resolved in moments in the second half. Barely two minutes had passed when Nicolás Otamendi opened the scoring with Rodrigo De Paul, who set up Julián Álvarez on the edge of the area. The Spider, first, touched the ball to the middle, where Lautaro Martínez let the ball pass and made it possible for Alexis Mac Allister to finish the goal.
In this way, the brand new two-time champion of America, who had been superior in the first half, reflected the dominance on the scoreboard thanks to a great collective play, a trademark of the team that had not been a constant in the first 45 minutes.
And with the peace of mind of the 1-0, he began to control the match with much more ease, playing, opening up the field and generating the delight of those present. Mac Allister himself flirted with the 2-0, but Arias, one of the figures of the night, won the fight in the second duel, and with the match a little flat, the process began to even out.
Scaloni refreshed the attack, putting together a line of four with the entry of Marcos Acuña for Lisandro Martínez, after a warning from La Roja, who showed many difficulties in the associated game, and Argentina got through a mini-anxiety without any surprises.
The game seemed to face no major movements, but Julián Álvarez converted a recovery in the opponent’s half into a true goal for 2-0: the Atlético de Madrid striker took a tremendous left-footed shot from outside the area that beat Arias and sealed the match, six minutes from the end.
But the goal of the 10th was still missing. Paulo Dybala, who returned to the national team and wore Lionel Messi’s legendary shirt, received the ball from Alejandro Garnacho, who moments before had been close to scoring his first international goal, and gave the match its final score.which ended with celebrations of the second American championship on the playing field.
With this result, Argentina reached 18 points, the result of 6 wins and 1 loss, and dropped out of the top spot in the qualifiers. Next Tuesday, it will visit Colombia in Barranquilla. Chile, on the other hand, remained at 5 points (it is second to last in the table) and is already preparing to receive Bolivia in search of recovery.
