Brazil and Uruguay drew 1-1 in a massive World Cup qualifier in Salvador on Tuesday.
MORE — South America qualifying fixtures, table, hub
Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay took the lead in the second half through captain and Real Madrid midfield star Federico Valverde but Gerson equalized to grab a point for Dorival Junior’s stuttering Selecao. Brazil sit seven points behind leaders Argentina with just six of the 18 World Cup qualifiers remaining.
With the point Uruguay sit in second place in the table and are on 20 points, two ahead of Brazil. Uruguay have a healthy seven-point cushion to seventh placed Bolivia, with the top six teams in South American qualifying reaching the 2026 World Cup automatically and seventh place going into a playoff.
Uruguay’s Darwin Nunez came off at half time, as Liverpool fans will be holding their breath about a potential injury to their striker.
It’s very likely Brazil will still qualify for the 2026 World Cup but they’ve made life tough for themselves during qualifying. Yes, injuries to key players like Alisson, Eder Militao, Neymar and Rodrygo haven’t helped, but Dorival Junior’s side have been uninspiring in attack for most of qualifying. They face a huge game at home against third-placed and dangerous Colombia in March, then travel to rivals and top of the table Argentina a few days later. Those tough two games will decide if Brazil’s path to 2026 World Cup qualification will be straightforward or if they will made to sweat until the very end of the marathon that is World Cup qualifying in South America.
Kick off time: 7:45pm ET Tuesday (November 19)
Venue: Arena Fonte Nova – Salvador
Stream link, TV channel: En Espanol on Telemundo
Raphinha and Vinicius Junior are the leading lights in attack but the latter had a penalty saved in the draw at Venezuela last time out. The duo of Lucas Paqueta did well off the bench and Gabriel Martinelli could start to give Brazil extra directness.
Darwin Nunez is the main man up top with Facundo Pellistri a real threat on the right. In midfield Federico Valverde and Rodrigo Bentancur hold things together and balance things perfectly, with Ugarte likely to also start in this game to add extra defensive cover.
This seems set up to be a brilliantly chaotic game. Both teams know how important a win is to almost rubber-stamp their spot at the World Cup and both have issues at the back but are full of talented midfielders and attackers. Brazil 2-2 Uruguay.
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