Sports Mole previews Friday’s World Cup Qualifying – South America clash between Chile and Brazil, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Brazil travel to Santiago to face Chile in a must-win CONMEBOL 2026 World Cup qualifier on Thursday night.
Dorival Junior is under increasing pressure as Brazil manager, despite having only been in the role for less than 12 months, as the Selecao are vulnerable to missing out on the World Cup for the first time in their history.
Match preview
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Crisis point has not quite yet been reached within the Brazil national setup, but a poor October could well see panic spread across the nation.
Brazil are the only nation to have featured at every single World Cup since its inception in 1930, but they face the remarkable threat of not reaching the 2026 finals, despite its expansion to 48 teams.
CONMEBOL have been handed an extra two automatic qualifying spots, and that could be Brazil’s reprieve as they would currently be outside of them had the format not been expanded.
On current form though, there is no guarantee that Brazil will remain in the top six, with Venezuela, Paraguay and Bolivia breathing down their neck.
After eight matches, Brazil have taken just 10 points, and are level with Venezuela, and just one ahead of Paraguay and Bolivia, and it was Paraguay who beat the Selecao on matchday eight last month.
Brazil have also lost to the current top three, contributing to a run of just two wins in their last nine competitive games, as Dorival Junior’s side also went out at the quarter-final stage at the Copa America over the summer.
It is therefore the perfect time to face the current bottom two in CONMEBOL qualifying, and Brazil’s record is usually excellent against Chile, having lost just one of their last 19 meetings.
Chile’s current form suggests there is little chance of them improving on their poor record against the Selecao, as they are in a full-blown crisis at present.
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Even the appointment of Ricardo Gareca has done almost nothing to improve the fortunes of a nation that were back-to-back Copa America winners in 2015 and 2016.
Chile exited the Copa America group stages in the summer without scoring a goal, and then lost 3-0 in Gareca’s first qualifier against Argentina.
While the new manager could be forgiven for that defeat, there was absolutely no justification for their performance at home a few days later, as they became the first team in 67 matches and over three decades to lose a home qualifier against Bolivia.
Chile’s only win in the section came against the only side still below them in the standings, Peru, as La Roja sit in ninth on just five points.
Unless there is drastic improvement quickly, Chile are set to miss out on the finals for the third time in succession, something no La Roja fan would have envisaged after their brave showing at the 2014 World Cup.
Chile World Cup Qualifying – South America form:
Chile form (all competitions):
Brazil World Cup Qualifying – South America form:
Brazil form (all competitions):
Team News
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Unsurprisingly, Gareca has made numerous personnel changes from the squad that were humiliated by Bolivia last month.
Veterans Mauricio Isla and Gabriel Arias have both been dropped from the squad in favour of younger blood, while Ben Brereton Diaz‘s poor form for both club and country has seen him also miss out.
Alexis Sanchez remains out injured having not yet featured since his return to Udinese, while Matias Catalan and Vicente Pizarro are also currently unavailable.
Brazil will be without goalkeeper Alisson after he sustained a hamstring injury in Liverpool’s win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, meaning Ederson is set to win just his 26th cap.
Vinicius Junior has also been forced to withdraw due to a minor neck injury, meaning the Real Madrid front three has been split up, with Rodrygo and Endrick still set to feature.
Dorival Junior is dealing with a number of defensive injuries, as Bremer, Eder Militao and Guilherme Arana are all sidelined, so Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes is almost guaranteed to win his 10th cap here.
Chile possible starting lineup:
Cortes; Hormazabal, Maripan, P Diaz, Galdames; Valdes, Osorio, Echeverria, Pulgar; Vargas, Davila
Brazil possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Alex Telles; Andre, Bruno Guimaraes, Lucas Paqueta; Raphinha, Endrick, Rodrygo
We say: Chile 0-2 Brazil
Brazil are in an awful run of form, but there are not many better fixtures they could have been given to return to winning ways.
Chile are in disarray, and after falling to an embarrassing home defeat to Bolivia, there is little to suggest manager Gareca can do enough with his squad in such a short space of time to compete with the strongest in South America.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.