- La Albirroja won the South American title for the second time in its history and qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after beating Venezuela 2-0.
- Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 and will also represent South America in the Olympic Games.
The CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic had its last day of the Final Phase this Sunday with an exciting closing of the tournament: Paraguay is the new champion and Argentina will accompany it at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Albiceleste was left with a tough classic against Brazil. In an even process, the difference came at the end: at 78′, a great cross from Valentín Barco found the head of Luciano Gondou for the only goal of the game. The forward ended up being key with 4 goals throughout the entire tournament.
In this way, Argentina qualified for the Olympic event and will have its tenth participation seeking its third gold medal after the consecrations of Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
In the last round, both the title and the pending Olympic classification were sentenced: both went to Paraguay. La Albirroja defeated Venezuela in a match where they played a perfect second half. Diego Gómez converted a penalty to make it 1-0 and Marcelo Pérez sealed the 2-0 victory. Second CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic for Paraguay after the consecration in 1992.
Carlos Jara Saguier made history again as coach: 20 years later he once again took his country to the Olympic Games. This time with first place. La Albirroja will play the competition for the third time, after the experiences of 1992 and 2004.
– Paraguay 2-0 Venezuela –
Paraguay qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by defeating the host Venezuela 2-0 on the last day of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic and, in addition, finished as champion after thirty-two years.
The midfielder Diego Gómez at 48′, from a penalty, and the forward Marcelo Pérez at 75′ scored the goals for Carlos Jara Saguier’s team, who two decades ago had led the Paraguayan team that won the silver medal in the Games Athens 2004 Olympics.
Gómez finished with five goals in this Pre-Olympic, finishing as the top scorer, tied with the Argentine Thiago Almada and the Uruguayan Luciano Rodríguez.
Paraguay led the Final Quadrangular with seven points, followed by Argentina, which reached five by beating Brazil 1-0 in the early hours. Thus, Paraguayans and Argentines took the two Olympic places that were in dispute.
– Match numbers –
- Paraguay won both matches against Venezuela in CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic, counting since 1996 (3-1 in 2004 and 2-0 today).
- Paraguay only lost one match in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Final Phase, counting since 1996 (W4 D1 L1). His previous presence in this round was in 2004, when he also qualified for the Olympic Games.
- Paraguay finished 26 times against Venezuela in this match, the highest record in the 2024 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic for a team in the same match.
- Diego Gómez’s five finishing passes against Venezuela represent the second most in this area for a player from Paraguay in the current CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic, behind Marcelo Pérez’s six against Peru.
- The nine saves by Samuel Rodríguez (Venezuela) against Paraguay is the most for a goalkeeper in a CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic 2024 match.
– Brazil 0-1 Argentina –
Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 on the last day of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic towards Paris 2024 and won one of the qualifying spots in dispute in this tournament. With this result, Brazil, the gold medal-winning team in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, was left with no chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games.
Forward Luciano Gondou, with a header from the center of left back Valentín Barco, scored in the 78th minute the goal that sealed the victory for the team coached by Javier Mascherano at the Brígido Iriarte stadium, in Caracas.
– Match numbers –
- Argentina’s two victories against Brazil in CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic since 1996 were by the same result: 1-0, in 2004 and today.
- Argentina breaks a streak of three games without victories in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic final phase (D2 L1). However, the Albiceleste lost only one of its last nine games in this phase (W5 D3 L1).
- Argentina had more possession than its rivals in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic 2024 in five of the seven games it played, averaging 56.4% possession. Today against Brazil it registered 60.5%.
- This afternoon Argentina made 38 crosses into the area against Brazil, the highest record with one match left in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic 2024.
- In addition to assisting Argentina’s goal, Valentín Barco was the Albiceleste player with the most touches on the ball (87), crosses into the area (18) and attempted dribbles (6) against Brazil.
CONMEBOL.com / EFE / AFP / OPTA