The list of the leading goal-scorers in the South American qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2026\u2122 is yet another race led by Lionel Messi. With six goals in the preliminaries, the Argentinian hitman claimed the top spot after netting a hat-trick against Bolivia on Matchday 10.<\/p>\n
Before the 6-0 thrashing of the Bolivians, Messi wasn\u2019t even the leading goalscorer for Argentina in his own right. Surprisingly, he had the same three-goal tally as centre-back, Nicolas Otamendi. Within the Albiceleste, the biggest contenders, apart from Messi, are Julian Alvarez and Nico Gonzalez, with two goals each.<\/p>\n
But whoever thinks Messi will reign supreme as the leading marksman may be in for a surprise come the final eight rounds of qualifying. We\u2019ve picked five players who are expected to be hot on the heels of the World Cup winner.<\/p>\n
Darwin Nunez, Uruguay (5 goals)
\nNext games: Colombia (home) and Brazil (away)<\/p>\n
Uruguay need Nunez more than ever at this moment. Without a win in normal time in their last ten matches, Uruguay will be counting on their top scorer to return to his old form under Marcelo Bielsa. There aren\u2019t any easy fixtures for the Celeste in this window, with games against Colombia and Brazil. Nunez started the campaign with five goals in six games, before being suspended due to an incident in the Copa America, causing him to miss Uruguay\u2019s September qualifiers. He failed to score in his return in October\u2019s qualifiers, but a goal for Liverpool last weekend bodes well.<\/p>\n
Luis Diaz, Colombia (4 goals)
\nNext games: Uruguay (away) and Ecuador (home)<\/p>\n
Colombia has been performing exceptionally well in the qualifiers, and in the midst of this strong form, Diaz has a shot at finishing as the top scorer. With four goals in ten matches so far, the tricky left winger is exhibiting the same form for Colombia as he has in a Liverpool shirt this season. As if his dribbling and dynamism weren\u2019t enough, he comes off five goals in the Premier League and a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n
Raphinha, Brazil (3 goals)
\nNext games: Venezuela (away) and Uruguay (home)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to find anyone playing better than Raphinha at the start of the 2024\/25 season. In superb form at Barcelona, where he has taken on the captain\u2019s armband, the attacking midfielder has been involved in 20 goals in 18 games. In his last game for Brazil, he scored two penalties in the demolition of Peru. With the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o on the up, Raphinha can be a source of creativity and inspiration in Dorival Junior\u2019s attacking setup.<\/p>\n
Miguel Terceros, Bolivia (3 goals)
\nNext games: Ecuador (away) and Paraguay (home)<\/p>\n
At the start of qualifying, it would have been difficult to imagine the name of Terceros featuring on the top scorers\u2019 list. But the young, attacking midfielder has demonstrated his worth and goal-scoring instinct in the continental competition. In Bolivia\u2019s last four games, he has found the net three times, helping his country get back into the race for a World Cup spot. With another home game in El Alto, where Bolivia are very strong, it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise to see Terceros add to his haul in November.<\/p>\n
Salomon Rondon, Venezuela (3 goals)
\nNext games: Brazil (home) and Chile (away)<\/p>\n
A Venezuelan footballing legend, Rondon is still capable of carrying the charge for La Vinotinto. During the last FIFA window, his goal secured a well-deserved draw against Messi\u2019s Argentina. The goal also ended his drought in the qualifiers \u2013 Rondon had not scored since October 2023. In the Copa America however, he scored three goals in four games. With Venezuela battling to go to their first ever World Cup, their experienced top scorer will need all the goals he can get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The list of the leading goal-scorers in the South American qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2026\u2122 is yet another race led by Lionel Messi. With six goals in the preliminaries, the Argentinian hitman claimed the top spot after netting a hat-trick against Bolivia on Matchday 10. Before the 6-0 thrashing of the Bolivians, Messi wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1041628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-1041627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1041627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1041627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1041627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1041627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}