The first round of the South American zone's World Cup qualifiers resumed in the morning sunshine on Friday. Traditionally dominant Argentina, with the afterglow of last year's title win, opened the scoring with a narrow 1-0 home win over Ecuador. 36-year-old Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi was once again the savior incarnate, cementing the victory with a brilliant second-half penalty kick goal to take his tally to 29, tying him with legendary Uruguayan goalscorer Luis Suárez for the most goals ever scored by any player in the South American zone of the tournament. Player.
Argentina started the match with the momentum of the defending champions, with 87% of the ball in the first 10 minutes, but Ecuador's tight defense made Argentina's attack like "rats pulling a tortoise", making it difficult to break through. In the first half, Argentina's most threatening attack came from Nadalu Martinez's shot, but unfortunately hit the post and bounced out.
In the second half of the match, Messi once showed his personal charisma and managed to get rid of the opponent's block, but unfortunately the shot was still deflected by the goalkeeper. Time came to the 78th minute, Argentina finally found a breakthrough, in the top of the penalty area to get a penalty kick opportunity, Messi personally manipulated hit, eight consecutive international matches scored a goal, the cumulative contribution to the national team 104 goals, plus 53 assists, the total number of goals reached 157, surpassing the Portuguese superstar C - Ronaldo (156 goals), became the international field of play in the most players to create a record of scoring goals.
