{"id":8842,"date":"2023-11-17T06:28:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T00:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/2023\/11\/17\/messis-argentina-falls-to-uruguay-loses-first-match-since-world-cup-title\/"},"modified":"2023-11-17T06:28:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T00:58:45","slug":"messis-argentina-falls-to-uruguay-loses-first-match-since-world-cup-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/2023\/11\/17\/messis-argentina-falls-to-uruguay-loses-first-match-since-world-cup-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi\u2019s Argentina falls to Uruguay, loses first match since World Cup title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi could not help Argentina extend its unbeaten streak since its World Cup title.<\/p>\n

Uruguay beat Argentina 2-0 at La Bombonera Stadium in Buenos Aires on Thursday in a World Cup qualifying match, its biggest victory so far under new coach Marcelo Bielsa. <\/p>\n

RELATED: Diaz double fires Colombia over Brazil after kidnap drama<\/a><\/p>\n

Argentina hadn\u2019t lost a competitive match since its group-stage opener against Saudi Arabia during last year\u2019s World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Argentina still leads the 10-team South American qualifying group with 12 points from five matches. Uruguay is second with 10 points. Colombia has nine and Venezuela eight. <\/p>\n

Brazil will host the World Cup champions at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in fifth position, with seven points.<\/p>\n

Uruguay was aggressive from the start against the World Cup champions. Darwin N\u00fanez nearly opened the scoring with a crossed shot in the 10th minute after a mistake by defender Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi.<\/p>\n

For the first time since Argentina\u2019s World Cup title, coach Lionel Scaloni looked jittery as his midfielders struggled to block Uruguay\u2019s wingers. <\/p>\n

His players didn\u2019t heed the call and their punishment came in the 42nd minute, when Matias Vi\u00f1a easily stole the ball from Nahuel Molina and gently made a low cross into the penalty box. Ronald Ara\u00fajo smashed it into the back of the net.<\/p>\n

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\ud83c\udf86 \ud835\udde4\ud835\udde8\ud835\uddd8\u0301 \ud835\udde1\ud835\udde2\ud835\uddd6\ud835\udddb\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udde0\ud835\uddd4\u0301\ud835\uddda\ud835\udddc\ud835\uddd6\ud835\uddd4#ElEquipoQueNosUne<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/dxHSRz4Dd1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Selecci\u00f3n Uruguaya (@Uruguay) <\/div>\n

November 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Argentina came close to leveling the scoring on a free kick by Messi and a close-range shot by Otamendi, which forced goalkeeper Sergio Rochet to make a key save near the end of the first half.<\/p>\n

After the break, Uruguay kept the pressure on Argentina, which once again counted on Messi and substitute Angel di Maria to find its best chances. Messi hit the bar with a free kick in the 57th minute.<\/p>\n

N\u00fanez scored in the 87th minute on a counter after the Uruguayan defense stopped Messi at the edge of its box.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never felt comfortable in this match,\u201d Messi said. \u201cUruguay is a physical team, they have good teamwork. It is always like that against them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s close friend Luis Su\u00e1rez, who just returned to the Uruguayan national team, did not play.<\/p>\n

In the previous round of World Cup qualifying, Uruguay beat Brazil by the same score in Montevideo. Its next match will be against Bolivia.<\/p>\n

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\nComments\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Argentina still leads the 10-team South American qualifying group with 12 points from five matches. Uruguay is second with 10 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sport-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}