BUENOS AIRES: Lautaro Martinez’s goal gave Argentina a 1-0 win over Peru on Tuesday in a South American qualifying match in Buenos Aires and left the hosts close to a spot in the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Their main continental rivals Brazil drew 1-1 against Uruguay in Salvador, Brazil with two impressive goals in an otherwise lackluster match. Federico Valverde gave Uruguay the lead with a curled shot from the edge of the box, and Gerson netted his first for Brazil in similar fashion at the Arena Fonte Nova.

Argentina lead South American qualifying with 25 points from 12 matches, five points clear of their closest competitor, Uruguay. Ecuador and Colombia are next with 19 points each.

Brazil lag in fifth position with 18 points after several uninspiring performances, still hoping that striker Neymar will return from injury and fit in again. Paraguay, with 17 points, are in sixth place.

South American qualifying will give six direct berths in the next World Cup. Seventh-place Bolivia, with 13 points, are in the international playoff position. Venezuela (12), Chile (9), and Peru (7) are out of qualifying spots.

The next round of South American World Cup qualifying will be played in March.

Uninspiring Argentina

Martinez’s goal was his 32nd for the national team, which puts him level with the legendary Diego Maradona.

Until Martinez scored, Argentina’s best chance was in the 21st minute, when striker Julian Alvarez hit the Peruvian goalkeeper’s right post. Messi once again had a modest performance, as he did in his team’s 2-1 defeat at Paraguay on Thursday.

Messi crossed the ball in the penalty area in the 55th minute to give Martinez one of the few clear opportunities of the match. The striker moved his body with more grace than power to put the ball in the back of the next.

Despite the disappointing performance at home, Lionel Messi’s team will finish the year with few question marks beyond its performances in November.

“We won Copa America, we lead South American World Cup qualifying,” said goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. “We must be proud of ourselves.”

Jeers for Brazil

Brazil fans at home in Salvador jeered their team after the final whistle. In a match with few opportunities for either side, Uruguay seemed closer to winning for most of the second half.

Valverde opened the scoring in the 55th minute after Brazilian defenders failed three times to clear the ball from their penalty area. The Real Madrid midfielder hit the ball to the left corner to score. Gerson equalized in the 61st minute.

Striker Raphinha said he understood the frustration from his team’s fans, but disagreed with them.

“We played great. We did everything we could to leave here with a victory. We must have our heads high up, it will be very tough to beat us,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, Ecuador won 1-0 at Colombia with a goal by Enner Valencia in the seventh minute, in which he dribbled through three players before scoring. Ecuador lost defender Piero Hincapié to a red card in the 34th minute but held on for the win.

Bolivia and Paraguay drew 2-2 in a match between teams that could end up fighting for the seventh position in the region’s qualifying. Chile, one of the worst performing teams in the region this year, showed some fighting spirit and beat Venezuela 4-2.

LONDON: After upstaging powerhouses the US and Jamaica to win a rare Olympic sprint gold for Africa, Letsile Tebogo aims to unleash the “deadly” untapped potential of athletes from the continent.

The unassuming Botswanan, 21, was one of the standout performers in Paris this year, becoming the first African to win the men’s 200m and silver in the 4x400m relay.

Botswana’s first Olympic gold medalist in any sport, he ran an African 200m record of 19.46 seconds, placing him fifth on the world all-time list and beating US star Noah Lyles into third place.

It came just months after he suffered the trauma of losing his mother, Seratiwa, who died in May — he credits her as being the “powerhouse, the drive” behind his success.

As a sign of his new-found status, Tebogo is one of two finalists for the men’s track athlete of the year award, along with Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Since the end of a successful Diamond League season he has been spending his downtime farming in Botswana but in the coming weeks he will start building toward the next season.

“The Olympics have taken me to a different level,” Tebogo told AFP on a chilly autumnal morning in London. “It has opened a lot of doors for me.

“It has created more empowerment for the youth back in the country, back in the African continent, because now a lot of youth want to engage in sporting activities, not just athletics, because I’ve shown them that anything is possible.”

Tebogo is building on the legacy of Frankie Fredericks, considered the trailblazer for modern African sprinters.

But he has already gone a step further than the Namibian, who had to settle for silver medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, and he hopes his success can inspire others.

“I believe there’s true potential in Africa, just that we don’t have as many resources as other countries,” he said.

“So if we have the resources, then Africa could be one of the deadliest continents.”

Tebogo wants public money to go toward training coaches, improving facilities and stadiums to encourage young athletes.

“Once you find a gem in Africa, you don’t know when you’re going to find the next gem,” he said. “Because we have the talent, but we don’t have the coaches.

“That could help us nurture that talent into something very big.”

Botswana erupted in celebration after Tebogo’s success in Paris, with then president Mokgweetsi Masisi declaring a half-day public holiday, and he was given two houses by the government.

But he does not fit the usual mold of a preening, extroverted sprint star — he is not interested in emulating Lyles’s showy entrance to the track, previously describing his US rival as “arrogant” and “loud.”

“I mean, I just let my legs do the talking because I’m a more reserved person,” said Tebogo, who was making a flying visit to London for an event with his sponsor, law firm DLA Piper Africa.

“So if he does what he does, because that’s him, we have to accept the way he is and then just move on.”

He is less than impressed with the focus of the latest episodes of the Netflix show “Sprint,” tweeting that it is an “American show,” too obsessed with US stars.

Tebogo, who announced himself on the global stage with 100m silver and 200m bronze at the 2023 world championships in Budapest, admits his new-found fame brings with it positives and negatives.

“The positive is that you get recognized everywhere you go,” he said. “Now you can open doors for yourself with your name.

“And then the negative side of being famous, I believe, is that you’re not a free human being. Everybody’s looking up to you, every step that you take, everybody’s looking if you’re stepping on the right stone, you’re not going to fall down.”

The Botswanan, a keen footballer as a youngster who decided to focus on athletics relatively late, admits he is not yet the finished article but believes things will “click” in 2025.

“We haven’t sat down with the coach and the team to discuss our plans for the 2025 season, but I believe one is going to be making Africa proud,” he said.

“That’s the first one that will never change, no matter what year, what season we get into.”