Brazil sinks Chile and takes a breather

Brazil lost this Thursday chilli 1-2 at the National Stadium in Santiago, with goals from Igor Jesús and Luiz Henrique, Botafogo forwards, the last goal at the end of the match that gave Canarinha the wind in the match against World Cup 2026. With this result, the five-time world champion occupies fourth place with 13 points, while La Roja remains ninth with five, outside the classification positions.

Chile opened the scoring in the first minute of the match with a goal from forward Eduardo Vargas, while Brazil equalized through Igor Jesús to leave tied at the end of the first half. Luiz Hnerique’s left-footed shot in the 89th minute sank La Roja, who struggled to score even a point in the tie but ended up surrendering.

Eduardo Vargas’ cross header past goalkeeper Ederson’s left post stunned Brazil just seconds after the opening whistle. A play where Felipe Loyola sent a cross into the area for the Chilean striker. It was a good start for La Roja who then made themselves happy with a deflected shot from Darío Osorio in the 13th minute, but Canarinha began to take control of the game and had their first attempt Rodrygo’s shot was rejected.

Brazil shook and dominated the ball after 15 minutes of play, but could not create any danger on Brayan Cortés’ goal, while Chile tried to pressure the Brazilian exit without success. The five-time champions developed options on the wings, mostly on the right, and La Roja were overwhelmed by numerous rejection balls that Verdeamarela tried to filter into the area or finish directly on goal.

Dorival Júnior’s team looked for the goal with crosses into the Savinho area from the right corner of the area, and with persistence they broke the Chilean lock to equalize at the end of the first half. A header from Igor Jesús leveled the scores and the striker himself could have scored a second before the break, again with a pass from Savinho.

At the start of the second half, Chile were unable to repeat what they had done at the start of the match as Brazil maintained their dominance with pressure on Cortés’ goal and the few advances they made were wiped out by turnovers. The danger created by Brazil lacked effectiveness, the most promising play was Rodrygo’s fall in the area which was futilely claimed for a penalty. La Roja, meanwhile, had Diego Valdés deflect a shot that went high.

The touch with which Brazil dominated its attacks in the first half of the match was lost with the departure of Lucas Paquetá, its game became more direct in pace and ended in mistakes in the recovery of the ball by both teams. La Roja got a second wind ten minutes from the end where they developed an attacking movement in the Brazilian area, with a mobile Lucas Cepeda, who came on as a substitute, and Osorio looking for a goal.

But Brazil punished again at the end with a goal by Luiz Henrique, who made a left-footed shot inside the area due to the passivity of Chile’s defense. Chile will try to find points next Tuesday when they visit Colombia in Barranquilla, while Brazil will host Peru in Brasilia.

TECHNICAL SHEET

1 – Chile: Brian Cortes; Felipe Loyola, Benjamín Kuscevic, Guillermo Maripán, Thomas Galdames (d.64, Marcelo Morales); Esteban Pavez (m.75, Williams Alarcón), Rodrigo Echeverría; Darío Osorio, Diego Valdés (m.75, Gonzalo Tapia), Víctor Dávila (m.59, Lucas Cepeda); Eduardo Vargas (m.75, Carlos Palacios)
2 – Brazil: Ederson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Abner Vinicius (d.84, Gabriel Martinelli); André (m.45, Bruno Guimaraes), Lucas Paquetá (m.45, Gerson); Raphinha, Rodrygo, Savinho (d.67, Luiz Henrique); Igor Jesús (d.76, Endrick).
Objectives: 1-0, Eduardo Vargas (m. 1); 1-1, Igor Jesús (d. 45+1); 1-2, Luiz Henrique (d. 89)
Referee: Argentine Darío Herrera advised Paquetá and Danilo for the visit, and Thomas Galdames, Esteban Pavez and Felipe Loyola for the locals.
Incidents: The match on the ninth day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup was played at the National Stadium in Santiago.