Argentina will welcome Venezuela to Buenos Aires this Saturday for the 17th round of the 2022 CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Venue: Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti (Buenos Aires)
Key Statistics
Argentina are unbeaten in this World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) campaign (W10, D5).
They have kept five clean sheets in their last five home WCQ games.
The hosts are unbeaten in 29 games.
Seven of Argentina’s last eight WCQ goals have come before half-time.
Venezuela have won just three of their last 16 WCQ matches (D1, L12).
The visitors have conceded 30 goals in this WCQ campaign. Only Bolivia have conceded more in their group.
They have scored just three goals across their seven 2022 WCQ away matches.
Head to head
Argentina have an excellent record against Venezuela and have won 23 out of 27 matches played between the two teams. Venezuela have managed only two victories against Argentina.
Latest performances in all competitions
Argentina: W-W-D-W-W
Venezuela: L-W-L-L-L
Argentina
Argentina will look to extend their unbeaten run in the World Cup Qualifiers and all competitions another game when they welcome bottom-placed Venezuela to Buenos Aires on Saturday.
The hosts have already booked their place in the Qatar tournament thanks to their unbeaten start to the World Cup Qualifying campaign so far (W10, D5).
They are looking to do their first-ever unbeaten CONMEBOL qualification campaign since the restructuring ahead of the 1998 finals.
Lionel Scaloni’s side come into this round of games sitting in second place, four points behind fierce rivals Brazil. With three games left to play, they could still finish top of the group. And so they will be looking to win this game to ensure that they have a chance of finishing second.
Given that they are facing a Venezuela side that has conceded 30 goals in 16 qualifier games, they will be confident of getting a good result
Possible Argentina starting line-up
Franco Armani; Nahuel Molina, Nicolas Otamendi, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Nicolas Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Guido Rodriguez, Leandro Paredes; Lionel Messi, Joaquin Correa, Angel Di Maria.
Injured: Paulo Dybala, Marcos Acuna, Lisandro Martinez, Alejandro Gomez
Suspended: Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Giovani Lo Celso, Cristian Romero.
Venezuela
Without a chance of playing in the World Cup, Venezuela will look to at least get a morale-boosting win over Argentina when they travel to Buenos Aires.
The visitors are sitting bottom of the table, having collected just ten points from their opening 16 games (W3, D1, L13).
The main reason for their bottom placement is their poor away form in the group stage. They have lost all of their away games in this qualifiers campaign, conceding 18 times and scoring just three goals in the process.
A leaky defence that has conceded 30 goals across 16 WCQ outings (1.88 on average) is also another big problem for José Pékerman’s side.
Given that their hosts have not lost a game in 29 outings, nor have they conceded their last five WCQ games at home, this game is tilted in Argentina’s favour.
And so the visitors will know that only a miracle and a convincing performance from them can give them a win on this occasion.
Possible Venezuela starting line-up
Wuilker Farinez; Roberto Rosales, Jhon Chancellor, Nahuel Ferraresi, Oscar Gonzalez; Adrian Martinez, Tomas Rincon; Darwin Machis, Romulo Otero, Yeferson Soteldo; Salomon Rondon.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Argentina 2-0 Venezuela
