FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 after brawl between fans delays start

Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier at the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro through a Nicolas Otamendi strike in the 63rd minute. The match was delayed by half an hour due to crowd trouble. Otamendi leaped highest on a corner just after the hour mark to evade the Brazilian defender to head the ball into the top corner. The win saw Argentina bounce back from last week’s defeat to Uruguay to beat their bitter South American rivals. Argentina lead the South American World Cup qualifying with 15 points from six games. Brazil are in sixth position with seven points after suffering their third defeat in qualifying. Both teams had lost their previous games in the 10-team round-robin competition.

The game had a rocky start when Lionel Messi led his Argentina playing XI off the field and into the locker rooms because of a brawl between rival fans, delaying the start of their match by 27 minutes. Argentina players asked fans in the stands to stay calm before heading to the dressing room. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez raced to one of the rails in front of the Argentina fans to ask police to stop the violence. Police used batons to break up the fights in the crowd. Parts of seating were being thrown and hit some spectators behind one of the goals. At least one fan left the stadium bleeding from his head.

Argentina told Brazil officials they would only return to the pitch after the situation was calm. They returned after 22 minutes in the locker rooms, and warmed up for several minutes before the game was finally started. As the match began, dozens of police surrounded Argentina fans as they cheered, and even more security faced toward them on the pitch. Police gathered around the section that can hold about 3,000 fans. All 69,000 tickets for the match in Rio de Janeiro were sold. Brazil fans, who jeered and applauded Messi before the brawl began, chanted against him when he returned to the pitch. Brazil players remained on the pitch and warmed up while waiting for the Argentina team to return. The febrile pre-match atmosphere spilled onto the field when play finally got underway, with Brazi’s Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus being given a yellow card after just five minutes after clashing with Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul. Tense atmosphere The tense nature of the contest continued throughout a poor first half, with neither side creating much in the way of goalscoring opportunities in a game littered with niggly fouls. Brazil winger Raphinha was booked in the 14th minute for flinging an arm into the face of De Paul, and was lucky not to receive a second yellow five minutes later after catching Alexis MacAllister with a wild studs-up challenge. Brazil meanwhile failed to register a single shot – either on or off target – until a 38th minute free-kick from Raphinha that deflected wide for a corner. The only shot on goal from either side in the entire first half came on 44 minutes, when Brazil’s Gabriel Martinelli lashed a muffed clearance from Argentina goalkeeper Martinez back towards goal. Martinelli’s shot was heading for the net but Argentina breathed a sigh of relief after defender Cristian Romero blocked the effort on the line. Brazil started the second half more positively, with Raphinha having a shot blocked at the near post by Martinez after 54 minutes. Martinez then rescued Argentina again, parrying Martinelli’s goal-bound shot after a good run by Gabriel. But Brazil were rocked after Argentina took the lead on 63 minutes with their first attempt on target of the match. Giovani Lo Celso swung in an inviting corner from the left and the 35-year-old Otamendi soared above Brazil midfielder Andre to head home for 1-0.

A miserable night for Brazil got worse in the 82nd minute when substitute Joelinton – who had only been on the field for 12 minutes – was sent off for an off-the-ball clash with De Paul. (with inputs from AP, AFP)