Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 06:56• Yanick Vos • Last update: 07:02

Argentina took an important step towards World Cup qualification on the night from Friday to Saturday. In the Campeón del Siglo in Montevideo, Uruguay was defeated 0-1 by a beautiful goal from Ángel Di María. The Paris Saint-Germain winger already signed for the winning goal in the seventh minute. The victory over Uruguay puts the team of national coach Lionel Scaloni even more firmly in second place behind the already qualified Brazil.

Lionel Messi missed the kick-off. The attacker had recovered in time from the injury that kept him sidelined for the past two games at PSG, but not yet fit enough to start from the first minute against good Uruguayan friend Luis Suarez. Where Messi came in as a substitute fifteen minutes before the end as a replacement for Giovani Lo Celso, Ajax players Nicolás Tagliafico and Lisandro Martínez were on the bench for the entire match. With Lautaro Martínez in the lead of the attack and Paulo Dybala and Di María on the flanks, Argentina took off.

So you stay on for this: a piece of perfection from Ángel Di María! ??
The Argentine shoots him brilliantly into the top corner, 1-0 to Argentina in Uruguay ??#ZiggoSport #WCQ2022 #URUARG pic.twitter.com/NgsmF8f7hd

— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 12, 2021

The game was six minutes old when Dybala disrupted Uruguay’s build-up and took possession of the ball on the right wing at the expense of Joaquín Piquerez. In the penalty area he found Di María, who needed a little space to curl the ball into the corner in the far corner. Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera still dived, but had no chance of the PSG attacker’s deployment. It turned out to be a match in which Argentina didn’t do much and Uruguay dominated.

After the break, the home side had several chances to tie the score. Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez never got into big trouble. Uruguay failed to score, meaning national team coach Óscar Tabárez’s side have only scored twice in their last five games. Argentina held on and are now unbeaten for the 26th game in a row. The Argentines will qualify for the World Cup on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday if Brazil is defeated and Colombia, Chile or Uruguay do not win.