Argentina, Uruguay win in long-awaited FIFA World Cup qualifiers

Argentina and Uruguay started their South American World Cup qualifying campaign with a win on Thursday as both Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez each scored from the spot for their respective teams.

Lionel Messi's early penalty gave Argentina a 1-0 win over Ecuador in a lackluster match while Suárez opened the scoring in Uruguay's 2-1 last-minute win over Chile in Montevideo.

Brazil hosts Bolivia and James Rodriguez' Colombia will play against Venezuela in the rest of the opening games in South American qualifiers for Qatar 2022.

South America will have four direct berths in the next World Cup. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia, in that order, start as favorites for those spots.

"It was a tough year for all the world, for us



Argentinians. To be able to play and give some joy to people with this victory, beyond the match itself, is good to take some of the stress off," Messi said.

"What matters is that we won and now we have to keep growing, as we have done since the Copa America last year.”

As coach Oscar Tabarez predicted, Uruguay missed its hardcore supporters in the Estadio Centenario. But just as the few staffers and players in attendance thought the match would end in a draw, Maxi Gómez struck from the edge of the box at stoppage time.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty in these qualifiers, we just don't know how it will be," Tabarez said, in a reference to the pandemic. "To play without fans affects us a lot. As long as there is no attendance this will not be soccer."