Neymar Injured as Brazil lose to Uruguay; Lionel Messi scored a brace to help Argentina continue the perfect run

Lionel Messi scored two goals as Argentina extended their perfect start to South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over Peru. Messi extended his international goal tally to 106 with strikes in the 32nd and 42nd minutes. Argentina are top of the table with 12 points in 4 games while Brazil, Venezuela, and Uruguay all are 5 points behind of them. More importantly, Emi Martinez successfully kept another clean sheet.

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Messi showed no sign of the injuries and played like himself. The 36-year-old scored the first goal just after the half-hour mark, and then added a second one 10 minutes later which was enough to get the better off Peru.

While Argentina continued their serene progress through qualifying, arch-rivals Brazil suffered a nightmare 2-0 defeat, losing for the first time against Uruguay in 22 years. Neymar was stretchered off just before half-time with what appeared to be a knee injury.

Darwin Nunez scored a bullet header on 42 minutes to open the scoring in the first half at the Estadio Centenario. The Liverpool striker then played a pivotal role in Uruguay's second, holding up the ball well from a throw-in and cutting back for Nicolas de la Cruz to fire past Brazil goalkeeper Ederson on 77 minutes, confirming a 2-0 victory. The win was Uruguay's first over Brazil in a World Cup qualifying fixture since a 1-0 victory over the Selecao in Montevideo in July 2001.

Another disappointing result for five-time world champions Brazil, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Venezuela last week. Brazilian team officials said Neymar would undergo examinations in Sao Paulo on Wednesday.