Fernando Romero Nuñez 
Argentina’s men’s national football team beat its Paraguayan counterpart 1-0 in the third fixture of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Despite dominating the game throughout the 90 minutes, the Albiceleste could only muster one goal.
Argentina started the game strong. Defender Nicolás Otamendi scored with a great volley from a corner just 3 minutes into the game, the Albiceleste making the most of Paraguay’s aerial strength by taking an unorthodox and unpredictable approach to the set play. With Lionel Messi on the bench and Ángel Di María outside the team, it was Otamendi who took on captaining duties.
Lionel Scaloni’s team made the best of its speed and technique, often finding strikers Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez and particularly winger Nicolás González in space behind the Albiroja defense.
Argentina were superior throughout the first half, with quick, close passing moves that led to a barrage. Paraguay managed to reach halftime only one goal down, with a shot by Rodrigo de Paul hitting the post and González missing a clear shot by centimeters.
Early in the second half, the 84,000 crowd stadium was treated to the return of Lionel Messi, who had missed the Albiceleste’s second game against Bolivia with an injury.
However, the second half wouldn’t change much. With Paraguay pushing for a goal, Argentina found even more gaps in their defense. They never managed to score, which in turn gave way to the breaking of a new record. .
In the 77th minute, Emiliano Dibu Martínez broke the all-time mark for most minutes without conceding goals for an Argentina goalkeeper, which at that point was 608 minutes. He would end the match at 622. Germán “Mono” Burgos, the last record-holder, had set his mark in 1998.
With Paraguay unable to wrestle control of the game, the crowd started cheering “Ole, ole, ole” when Argentina’s passing moves kept its rivals guessing. Despite that, the biggest chance for a second goal came when Messi hit a free-kick from just outside the box, which ended up hitting the post.
With this win, Argentina broke an 11-year spell without victories against Paraguay in the South American Qualifiers. Its last win came in September 2012, when the team coached by Alejandro Sabella won 3-1.
The Albiceleste will now travel to Perú, its rival for the fourth fixture of the South American Qualifiers, set to be played next Tuesday.
