All were penalties, both 0-1, Argentina and Brazil advanced to the World Cup with a loss

both received penalty kicks, and Brazil and Argentina lost to their respective opponents with a score of 0-1, but it did not prevent the two teams from advancing to next year's World Cup.

On the morning of September 10, the final 18th round of the 2026 World Cup South American qualifiers ended. In the end, the top six teams in the South American qualifiers are Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay. These six teams directly advance to the 23rd World Cup jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States next year.

Teseros' penalty not only helped Bolivia defeat Brazil at home, but also allowed the team to gain a place in the intercontinental play-off. Visual China Picture

In the game that day, with Tserros' penalty kick, Bolivia defeated Brazil 1-0 at home. Bolivia ranked seventh in the South American division and successfully won an intercontinental play-off spot. The last time Bolivia participated in the World Cup was dated back to the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

For Brazil, facing Bolivia with the "plateau devil's home court", the last time Samba won here was dated back to 2008. In the past five World Cup qualifiers, Bolivia only achieved a bleak record of 2 draws and 3 losses.

Ecuadorian player Enna Valencia kicked the penalty kick into the Argentina goal. Visual China Picture

At the same time, Argentina and Ecuador, who had secured the top two in the South American division before the start of the game, played a real hot spot on the field. One of the two teams was sent off. In the 10-to-10-man game, Ecuador defeated Argentina 1-0 at home with a penalty kick from Enna Valencia.

However, although Messi did not represent Argentina in this round, he still scored 8 goals, ranking first in the South American World Cup qualifiers list.