MONTEVIDEO
\nLionel Messi scored twice for Argentina in emotional scenes in Buenos Aires on Thursday while Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay joined the reigning champions at next year\u2019s World Cup.
\nWith Argentina having already long booked their place at the tournament in North America, Messi struck in the 39th and 80th minutes in a 3-0 home win over Venezuela.
\nMessi, who has won the Ballon d\u2019Or eight times, sparkled in front of an adoring crowd of 80,000 at the Mas Monumental stadium in his last home qualifier for his country.
\nThe Argentine legend will turn 39 during next year\u2019s World Cup, but despite his advanced years, he looks set to play another pivotal role as Lionel Scaloni\u2019s side defend their crown.
\nMessi had his three sons with him before kickoff and his father, Jorge, was also in attendance to mark the occasion.
\nUruguay sealed their berth in the United States, Canada and Mexico by beating Peru 3-0 at home while Colombia saw off Bolivia by the same scoreline.
\nParaguay also reached the 2026 finals after a 0-0 home draw against already qualified Ecuador.
\nBrazil have also already qualified from South America.
\nBielsa does it again
\nIn front of 60,000 at a packed-out Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Rodrigo Aguirre put Marcelo Bielsa\u2019s Uruguay on their way on 14 minutes.
\nThe Club America forward leapt highest to place a thumping header into the top corner past Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.
\nThe Uruguayans, winners of the World Cup in 1930 and 1950, had needed just a point to qualify and send their charismatic veteran coach Bielsa to the tournament once again. The 70-year-old has now taken a third team to World Cup qualification.
\nBielsa\u2019s appointment as Uruguay coach in 2023 was greeted with excitement, even euphoria, but an underwhelming qualification campaign has dampened that enthusiasm.
\nQualification was always likely in a system that sees six of the 10 CONMEBOL sides qualify automatically for 2026, with one more heading into an inter-continental play-off.
\nVenezuela currently hold seventh place with one more qualifier to go.
\nGiorgian de Arrascaeta doubled Uruguay\u2019s lead just before the hour, lashing home from close range to ensure a party atmosphere in the Uruguayan capital.
\nFederico Vinas scored a third 10 minutes from time.
\nColombia also sealed their place in next summer\u2019s extravaganza thanks to a comfortable victory over Bolivia.
\nThe 34-year-old former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich attacker James Rodriguez, the breakout star of the 2014 World Cup, pounced just after the half-hour mark.
\nJhon Cordoba made sure there were no late scares with his goal in the 74th minute, before Juan Fernando Quintero made it three.
\nLike Uruguay, Paraguay needed only a draw to qualify when they hosted Ecuador.
\nThey got the job done as they ground out a goalless stalemate and will be at their ninth World Cup \u2014 but first since 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MONTEVIDEO Lionel Messi scored twice for Argentina in emotional scenes in Buenos Aires on Thursday while Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay joined the reigning champions at next year\u2019s World Cup. With Argentina having already long booked their place at the tournament in North America, Messi struck in the 39th and 80th minutes in a 3-0 home …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":86404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86407,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86392\/revisions\/86407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}