An Angel Di Maria goal was enough to see Argentina through against Uruguay in the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers. In CONCACAF, the USA beat rivals Mexico to consolidate their position at the top of the qualification table.
Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina edged past Uruguay in their latest World Cup qualification match despite the absence of Lionel Messi. Angel Di Maria stepped up to fill in the Albiceleste talisman’s boots; he scored the only goal of the game in the seventh minute – a wonderful, curled effort from inside the box.
The goal came about thanks to some excellent defensive work by Paulo Dybala. The Juventus man pressed the Uruguayan defense high up the pitch and won the ball back as a result. Dybala squared the ball to Di Maria inside the box, who opened up his body before curling an effort from the right past a diving Fernando Muslera.
Di Maria’s goal proved to be the divide between the two sides. Argentina, as a result, strengthened their hold on second place in the CONMEBOL qualification group – behind an already qualified Brazil – while Uruguay fell to sixth, albeit level on points with Colombia and Chile.
In the CONCACAF fixtures, the United States and Mexico met to renew their rivalry. In a fiercely competitive match, it was the USA who took the lead in the 74th minute, thanks to the fit-again Christian Pulisic. The Chelsea man headed the ball in from close range after some good work by Timothy Weah down the right wing.
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Weston McKennie doubled the USA’s lead in the 85th minute, the end result of a sweeping one-two touch move. The ball broke to him inside the box towards the end of the passage of play, and he finished past Guillermo Ochoa with confidence.
Meanwhile, Jonathan David scored the only goal as Canada beat Costa Rica to keep up with the CONCACAF stalwarts. The Lille man poked the ball into the net from close range, taking advantage of a spill by the Costa Rican goalkeeper Leonel Moreira.
Despite the varied results, USA, Mexico, and Canada finished the matchday occupying the three automatic qualification spots in the table.
