Argentina lost 1-0 against Ecuador with Nicolás Otamendi getting a red card.
Lionel Scaloni’s team lost their last match of the World Cup qualifiers with a referee that gave out a red card for both teams.
The first half started with Ecuador having most of the chances. Emiliano Martínez made a big save early on and minutes later, Leonardo Balerdi had a big block inside the penalty area.
Emiliano Martínez made another save, this time near post. Argentina did not create many chances as Ecuador kept pressuring.
Leonardo Balerdi was beaten to the ball and Nicolás Otamendi pushed Valencia from behind as the referee gave Otamendi the red card. Otamendi will miss Argentina’s first match at the World Cup as the red cards carry over from World Cup qualification.
Juan Foyth was substituted in for Giuliano Simeone and Rodrigo De Paul was the captain after Otamendi’s red card. Nicolás González was hit in the face by Hincapié’s arm and was bleeding from the mouth but the referee did not go to VAR and gave a yellow card.
In injury time, Nicolás Tagliafico headed to win the ball inside the penalty area but his arm hit the Ecuadorian player’s face.
The referee went to VAR and would award Ecuador a penalty kick. Emiliano Martínez would dive to his right and Valencia would go down the middle and score to give Ecuador the 1-0 lead.
Moments after the restart, Caicedo would get red carded for Ecuador. Lionel Scaloni would bring on Julián Álvarez, Franco Mastantuono, Nahuel Molina and Giovani Lo Celso for Lautaro Martínez, Leandro Paredes, Gonzalo Montiel and Rodrigo De Paul.
Argentina would not be able to score an equalizer and Ecuador would get the 1-0 win.
Nicolás Otamendi's red card for Argentina and he will miss Argentina's first match at the World Cup. 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/lZ9BQXPyUW
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) September 9, 2025