Papu Gómez has been banned from football for two years after having tested positive for a banned substited.
Gómez will not be playing football, at least for the next two years. According to Relevo, the 35 year old was tested in November 2022 while with Sevilla.
He blames the failed test after having taken his children’s sickness syrup without consulting with Sevilla’s doctors.
The fixture dates and times have been announced for November’s CONMEBOL South American World Cup qualifiers.
Argentina will host Uruguay in Cordoba on November 16 at 9:00 pm local time. The World Cup champions will travel to Brazil to play them on November 21 at the Maracaná at 9:30 pm local time.
Lionel Scaloni’s team have started the 2026 World Cup qualifiers undefeated with four wins out of four and are first in the standings.
🚨 Fixture dates and times announced for November's South American World Cup qualifiers.
Argentina host Uruguay and are away vs. Brazil at the Maracaná. pic.twitter.com/3HPsSC4j0e
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) October 19, 2023
Three Argentine players have been included in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers XI.
Lionel Messi, Nicolás Tagliafico and Enzo Fernández make the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers best eleven players. Messi scored two goals in Argentina’s 2-0 win vs. Peru to bring him to three goals in these World Cup qualifiers.
Nicolás Tagliafico helped start both of the goals and played a solid match for Lionel Scaloni’s team. Enzo is also included for his good showing. Here are the eleven players:
Rafael Romo (Venezuela)
Nicolás Tagliafico (Argentina)
Piero Hincapie (Ecuador)
Wilker Angel (Venezuela)
Nahitan Nandez (Uruguay)
Moises Caicedo (Ecuador)
Enzo Fernández (Argentina)
Yeferson Soteldo (Venezuela)
James Rodriguez (Colombia)
Darwin Nunez (Uruguay)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Nicolás Tagliafico, Enzo Fernández and Lionel Messi have been included in the CONMEBOL XI of the World Cup qualifiers. 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/XBGd3dQ81c
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) October 18, 2023
Lionel Messi has become the all time top scorer in South American World Cup qualifiers.
Messi scored two goals for Argentina in their 2-0 win vs. Peru, reaching 31 goals in the qualifiers and into first place. He was previously tied with Luis Suárez for first place on 29 goals.
This is Messi’s sixth South American World Cup qualifying campaign and prior to the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, had scored 28 goals. Messi did not score in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers but had four goals in the 2010 campaign, 10 for 2014, seven for 2018 and seven for the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Emiliano Martínez has continued to extend the Argentina national team record for consecutive minutes without allowing a goal.
Martínez the previous record held by Germán Burgos of 606 minutes without letting in a goal during Argentina’s 1-0 win vs. Paraguay. Against Peru in Argentina’s 2-0 win, the Best goalkeeper in the world kept another clean sheet, bringing him to a record 712 minutes.
The last goal he let in was against France in the World Cup final. Since the World Cup final, Dibu has kept eight clean sheets.
