Sports Highlights March 26: Lionel Messi Set To Play In Kerala In October; UAE Fire Head Coach Paulo Bento

Argentina are currently leading Brazil 4-1 in their South American FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier match. 75 minutes have passed.

We are in the injury time now and it is safe to say that Brazil have been totally outplayed in this game. It was supposed to be a good game but Argentina have made it totally one-sided. 4-1 reads the scoreline.

Argentina have thrashed Brazil 4-1 and they are into the 2026 FIFA World Cup! Julian Alvarez opened the scoring in just the fourth minute for Argentina and then Enzo Fernandez doubled the lead eight minutes later. Matheus Cunha gave Brazil their first goal in the 26th minute but Alexis Mac Allister fired 10 minutes later to make the score 3-1 at half-time. Guiliano Simeone solidified Argentina's lead in the second half and Brazil could never recover.

• Bolivia 0-0 Uruguay

• Argentina 4-1 Brazil

• Chile 0-0 Ecuador

• Colombia 2-2 Paraguay

• Venezuela 1-0 Peru

Novak Djokovic defeated Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Miami Open 2025. The Serb drubbed Musetti 6-2,6-2 to get an easy win en route to last eight.

Casper Ruud was dumped out of the 2025 Miami Open from the last-16 stage by Francisco Cerundolo, on a rain-affected day at the Florida event.

Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman to reach the Miami Open semi-finals by racing past Magda Linette in straight sets.

READ MORE

Indian wrestler Sunil Kumar won the bronze medal in the 87kg Greco Roman bout of the Asian Championship here on Tuesday.

In the bronze medal match, Sunil beat China's Jiaxin Huang after losing in the semifinals of the 87kg bout in the continental tournament.

Sunil, a silver medallist in 2019 who is looking to regain some of his old magic, had earlier registered a 10-1 victory over Tajikistan's Sukhrob Abdulkhaev in the quarterfinal. He scored all of his points in the second period. (PTI)

• Charlotte Hornets 104-11 Orlando Magic

• Detroit Pistons 122-96 San Antonio Spurs

• Miami Heat 112-86 Golden State Warriors

• New York Knicks 128-113 Dallas Mavericks

• Houston Rockets 121-114 Atlanta Hawks

• Utah Jazz 103-140 Memphis Grizzlies

• Portland Trail Blazers 111-122 Cleveland Cavaliers

• Sacramento Kings 105-121 Oklahoma City Thunder

Australia have completed a clean sweep over New Zealand with a slim eight-run victory in the third and final T20I of the series. Put into bat first, Australia rode on Georgia Voll's 75 to get to 180. Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green led the fightback with half-centuries for New Zealand but the chase fell short with Annabele Sutherland taking four wickets for Australia.

New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell has won the toss and opted to field first.

Pakistan Playing XI: Mohammad Haris(w), Hasan Nawaz, Salman Agha(c), Omair Yousuf, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Abdul Samad, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Mohammad Ali

New Zealand Playing XI: Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, Ben Sears, William ORourke

Host nations: United States, Mexico, Canada

Asia:

Japan (qualified on March 20 by beating Bahrain 2-0)

Iran (qualified on March 25 in 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan)

Oceania

New Zealand (qualified on March 24 by beating New Caledonia 3-0)

South America

Argentina (qualified on March 25 after Bolivia failed to beat Uruguay

The Women's Premier League has "grown phenomenally" in the last three years but there are no immediate plans to increase the number of teams from the existing five, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, who is also a part of the WPL committee, has said.

Football fans in India will have another glimpse of Lionel Messi and his Argentine team in an exhibition match in Kerala in October, 14 years after the World Cup-winning captain first visited the country. In November last year, Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman had announced the news of Argentina visiting the southern state and playing two friendly matches in Kochi. (PTI)

Paulo Bento has been fired as head coach of the United Arab Emirates soccer team just hours after a 2-1 win Tuesday over North Korea kept alive its slim automatic hopes of qualification for the 2026 World Cup. That victory, which came with a goal in the 98th minute, puts the UAE four points behind second-place Uzbekistan in Group A with two games remaining. The top two teams from each of the three Asian groups are guaranteed a place in the tournament to be hosted next year by the United States, Canada and Mexico. (AP)

New Zealand have defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in the fifth and final T20I of the bilateral series to win the series 4-1. Pakistan batted first and set a 129-run target which New Zealand achieved in just 10 overs thanks to Tim Seifert's unbeaten 97 runs. Jimmy Neesham also picked up a five-wicket haul in the match.

Paulo Bento was sacked by UAE Football Association on Wednesday. New Zealand defeated Pakistan by eight wickets and won the series 4-1 in Wellington. That's all from our side for today. Goodbye and take care!