The euphoria of Argentina’s opening World Cup qualifying win over Chile vanished at a stroke late Tuesday as the two-time world champions slumped to an historic 1-0 loss to Venezuela.

Fernando Amorebieta bagged the only goal to stun Alejandro Sabella’s side and send them back to square one, just when it seemed Friday’s 4-1 thrashing of Chile had exorcised demons of a summer Copa America failure on home soil.

After the Chile game, Sabella had ventured that the team had laid to rest an “apparent collective psychosis” regarding how Lionel Messi fits into the national team.

Last Friday, Barcelona wizard Messi had shone as brightly as ever in the national shirt, scoring one and laying on another for Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain.

But that was Buenos Aires.

On Tuesday, it was a hot and sticky Puerto La Cruz which saw Argentina fail to kick on from last week’s promising showing.

Amorebieta’s powerful header from a corner on the hour settled the contest at the Jose Antonio Anzoategui stadium, where the visitors huffed and puffed but proved unable to blow the Venezuelans’ house down, making Argentina’s home date with Bolivia on November 11 a must-win affair.

Sabella said afterwards that the conditions had been a factor.

“Maybe the heat was a factor, the humidity, the fact we played Friday and then had to travel,” he said.

“But we have to take things game by game and look at the areas we need to work on – the qualifiers are a long road.”

Argentina now trail Uruguay, who conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Paraguay, the side they beat 3-0 in the Copa final.

Uruguay forward Diego Forlan netted his 32nd goal in the national shirt midway through the second half to move beyond the mark he previously shared with 1920s and 1930s hero Hector Scarone.

But in a dramatic finale, Richard Ortiz snatched the equaliser with seconds of injury time remaining.

Results
Venezuela vs Argentina 1-0; Bolivia vs Colombia 1-2; Paraguay vs Uruguay 1-1; Chile vs Peru 4-2.