Venezuela VS Argentina

South American heavyweights Argentina travel to Estadio Monumental de Maturín to take on Venezuela in a ‘David vs Goliath’ 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Venezuela’s quest to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time in the country’s history remains fully alive despite a four-game winless streak in the ongoing qualifying campaign (D3, L1). Indeed, seven points from their opening four qualifiers keep them in the frame for automatic qualification as they sit sixth in the table heading into this fixture. A spirited 0-0 draw against FIFA’s 11th-ranked Uruguay in their last outing could inspire confidence around La Vinotinto’s camp as they hope to end a three-match losing streak against Argentina. They defeated their esteemed visitors in a friendly March 2019, but you’d need to go back to October 2011 for Venezuela’s last H2H victory in competitive action. Encouragingly, it was a 1-0 home win in this competition.

Buoyed by the news that Lionel Messi is ready to captain his country after skipping September fixtures due to injury, Argentina take this must-win trip confident of bouncing back from a 2-1 defeat against Colombia last month. That was their first loss in a World Cup qualifying match since 2017, but it couldn’t affect their position in the standings, as they sit at the top of the CONMEBOL group after eight matchdays (W6, L2). Defensive resilience shown by Argentina under Lionel Scaloni has been off the charts, with La Albiceleste conceding just seven goals across their last 19 World Cup qualifiers (W14, D3, L2). Moreover, since the abovementioned defeat 13 years ago, they’ve embarked on a seven-match unbeaten H2H run against Venezuela in competitive football (W5, D2).