Argentina World Cup: Argentina Qualify After Thrashing Brazil 4-1. Brazil were thrashed 4-1 by their arch foes Argentina in South American World Cup qualification on Tuesday as pressure on manager Dorival Jr mounted after his team was completely outclassed and it could easily have been more.
Brazil, who had edged past Colombia 2-1 at home on Thursday, fell back to earth with a crash against the world champions, who kicked off the rout with a close-range effort by Julian Alvarez four minutes after the kick-off.
Alvarez received a through pass from Thiago Almada and danced past two defenders to poke the ball past the outwardly rushing goalkeeper Bento.
“We did our job humbly and played a great game. We showed them a show,” Alvarez told reporters.
“It is a historic result, the 4-1 win and it makes us very proud, I’m very happy for the fans, who helped the team and saw that we played a great game at home. It feels good knowing that we’ve qualified for the World Cup.”
Earlier on Tuesday, a 0-0 draw between Uruguay and Bolivia sealed Argentina’s place at the 2026 World Cup — the first South American team to qualify for the tournament, which will be played in North America.
Even without their injured stars Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez Argentina proved streets ahead of their rivals and they wasted little time doubling their advantage with Enzo Fernandez making it 2-0 in the 12th minute.
Highlights
After Rodrigo de Paul, Almada and Alvarez carved open the Austrian defence, Fernandez tapped home at the far post from Nahuel Molina’s low cross.
Argentina were comfortably in the lead and moving the ball around to the chants of “Ole” from a capacity crowd of 86,000 at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires when Brazil struck back, a misplay from defender Cristian Romero giving Matheus Cunha a goal in the 26th minute.
But Argentina had their two-goal lead back in the 37th minute when Alexis Mac Allister blasted home after another superb team move, this time taking a cross from Fernandez.
Unbeaten by Brazil for six years, Argentina spurned a host of opportunities to increase their advantage before substitute Giuliano Simeone completed the rout in the 71st minute, leaving Brazil with their biggest loss in a World Cup qualifier.
Argentina lead the South American standings with 31 points from 14 games, 16 ahead of Venezuela in seventh who currently occupy the spot for the international playoffs following their 1-0 victory over Peru.
Brazil are fourth with 21 points.