Argentina vs. Brazil: Lionel Messi’s World Cup team travels to Rio.
In Matchday six of South American FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying, Argentina will play host Brazil on Tuesday night at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã stadium, led by World Cup champion Lionel Messi.
The match between these two legendary football nations on Tuesday night is sure to be angry, intense, and everything but loving, even yet it’s arguably the most romantic head-to-head match in global football history.
Argentina’s most recent visit to the Maracanã occurred during the Copa America Final in July 2021. Football fans, unfortunately, were not able to fully appreciate this moment. A smaller than 8,000 spectators witnessed the first continental final between these two legendary teams since Brazil triumphed 3-0 in 2007 amidst the global pandemic.
The outcome was different in 2021, when Ángel Di María’s stunning strike helped Lionel Messi win his first major championship with Argentina. After being under quarantine for more than a month in order to prepare for the competition, Argentina’s team won. Their forced close quarters living situation ultimately produced an unbreakable team spirit that helped them win the 2022 World Cup as well as the 2021 Copa America.
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For the hosts Brazil, however, what was supposed to be a happy national final ended up embarrassing the country. Anything less than a home win is unacceptable for the nation that considers itself to be the genuine home of football, much like when they were hammered by Germany at the 2014 World Cup, albeit not to quite the same amount.
When Brazil plays Argentina, everything is on the line, and in this continent of prideful nations, bragging rights are extremely valuable. As they finally get to support their team against Messi in the Maracanā on Tuesday night, Brazil will feel like they owe their visitors one. The home crowd will be boisterous.
Given that both sides are coming off losses, the tie has extra flair. Argentina was trounced 2-0 at home by Uruguay, a neighbor, while Brazil was recently defeated 2-1 at Colombia. Lionel Messi, who has a perfect record in his limited appearances, was enraged and disappointed as his team was unable to break down a strong Marcelo Bielsa setup. Conversely, Brazil has been under siege for some time now.
The host team’s terrible run has seen them lose to Senegal and Morocco and even drew at home to lowly-ranked Venezuela in qualifying last month. They have only managed three wins in nine games. Due to injuries, star players like Neymar and Vinicius Jr. are presently ranked fifth in the qualifying standings, behind Argentina at the top.
Temporary The extraordinarily unique assignment for Brazil’s manager Fernando Deniz is to lead his team Fluminense in the domestic league on Wednesday after overseeing the national team at home on Tuesday. Even though the well-liked coach is under increasing pressure, he will still have many nice memories from their journey to Colombia. Actually, Brazil may have ended the match while they were ahead 1-0, but Luis Díaz’s two sucker punches turned the tie around.
Conversely, Argentina, the current World Cup champions, never looked like winning their match at home against an outstanding Uruguayan team. It would be interesting to watch what kind of impact a loss this week in Brazil would have on Messi and company, who have been playing with such confidence for the past few years and haven’t lost back-to-back games since way back in 2016.
Remember that these two sides will be the clear favorites to win the 2024 Copa America in the United States in just a few months. Naturally, Tuesday’s match is a qualifier for the 2026 World Cup, and there are a lot of important points at stake. Though it’s still three years away, it’s possible that both teams are more concerned with asserting their supremacy over the other before the competition than they are with actually making it to the World Cup. Since this is only the sixth of 18 matchdays, both teams will undoubtedly qualify with ease.
Brazil wouldn’t consider staying back to absorb pressure when playing on their home ground, even though Uruguay’s counterattacking style has shown to be the ideal strategy to take on Argentina. Instead, players will play a dangerous but lucrative passing game called “Dinizball,” which involves transferring the ball from the goalkeeper all the way up to the forward line. Argentina will do better against this than against a deep defense, and hopefully the neutral will witness a free-flowing, thrilling match of excellent attacking play.
Given that no team has scored in this match since 2015, getting the opening goal is crucial in this match. Although Messi is ready to get back to his previous level, Brazil still has a lot to prove. Undoubtedly, a few yellow cards will be given out as both teams will do whatever they think is required to win this game.
The remaining eight teams competing in CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying will also be in play on Tuesday night. The schedule for matchday six is completed with the following fixtures:
