Games don’t come much bigger than this for Venezuela, who host reigning world champions Argentina in a vital 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The Vinotinto have never qualified for a World Cup finals, and the emotion of the task ahead was recently laid plain by Venezuela and Botafogo star Jefferson Savarino, who recently stated he’d “cry if Venezuela's anthem was played at the World Cup’’.
Games don’t come much bigger than this for Venezuela, who host reigning world champions Argentina in a vital 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The Vinotinto have never qualified for a World Cup finals, and the emotion of the task ahead was recently laid plain by Venezuela and Botafogo star Jefferson Savarino, who recently stated he’d “cry if Venezuela's anthem was played at the World Cup’’. This CONMEBOL group stage will see the top six directly qualify for the finals, and with Venezuela sitting sixth coming into matchday nine, the Estadio Monumental will be brimming with hope. But after grabbing seven points from their first four group fixtures, Venezuela are now without a win in four-straight qualifiers (D3, L1), though they showed their defensive capabilities last time out against #11 ranked Uruguay in a stubborn goalless stalemate. Ranked #1 by FIFA, Argentina represent an even bigger challenge, especially with news that Lionel Messi is expected to return and captain the side. La Albiceleste were without their star man in their 2-1 defeat to Colombia in their last group game, their first away loss in a World Cup qualifier since 2017, but that looks nothing more than a small bump in the road to a side who sit top of the table prior to this round of fixtures (W6, L2). They do have Colombia and Uruguay applying pressure to their spot at the group summit however, so manager Lionel Scaloni will want his side to quickly make amends for that defeat. Expect them to be difficult competitors for their Venezuelan counterparts, with Argentina having conceded a barely believable seven goals in their past 19 World Cup qualifying games (W14, D3, L2) and having not suffered a competitive H2H defeat since 2011 (W5, D2)! Players to watch: Salomón Rondón, who has four goal involvements from his last six international appearances (G3, A1), will be key to Venezuela’s hopes - the forward also has two goals and an assist from his past four club games. Argentina should be full of optimism here considering they have won their last eight games when their most-capped and record goalscorer Messi has played. Hot stat: Only one of Argentina’s last eight World Cup qualifiers saw both teams score. Written by 90 Live
