Brazil defeated this Thursday Chili 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 air in the tie against World Cup 2026. With this result, the five-time world champions occupy 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 with 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, which struggled to score at least a point with a tie but ended up succumbing.
Eduardo Vargas’ cross header to goalkeeper Ederson’s left post surprised Brazil just seconds after the opening whistle. A play in which Felipe Loyola sent a cross into the area for the Chilean striker. It was a good start for La Roja, which was then encouraged by a deflected shot by Darío Osorio in the 13th minute, but the Canarinha began to take control of the game and had its first attempt with Rodrygo whose shot was rejected.
Brazil shook off the blow and dominated the ball after 15 minutes of play, but could not create any danger in Brayan Cortés’ goal, while Chile tried to pressure the Brazilian exit without success. The five-time champions generated options on the wings, mostly on the right, and La Roja was overwhelmed with multiple rejections of balls that the Verdeamarela tried to filter into the area or directly finish on goal.
Savinho disputes a ball with Esteban Pávez
Dorival Júnior’s team looked for the goal with crosses into the Savinho area from the right corner of the area, and with insistence they broke the Chilean lock to tie at the end of the first half. A header from Igor Jesús leveled the score and the striker himself could have scored the second before the break, again with a pass from Savinho.
At the beginning of the second half, Chile was unable to repeat what it did at the start of the match. Brazil maintained its dominance with pressure on Cortés’ goal and the few advances they made were dissipated by turnovers. The danger that Brazil generated lacked effectiveness, the most promising play was a fall by Rodrygo in the area that was futilely claimed for a penalty. La Roja, meanwhile, had a deflected shot with Diego Valdés 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 with speed and ended with inaccuracies in the recovery of the ball by both teams. La Roja got a second wind ten minutes from the end in which they generated 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 the goal from Luiz Henrique, who took a left-footed shot inside the area due to the passivity of the Chilean defense. Chile will try to look for points next Tuesday when they visit Colombia in Barranquilla, while Brazil will host Peru in Brasilia.
TECHNICAL SHEET
1 - Chile: Brayan 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).
Goals: 1-0, Eduardo Vargas (m. 1); 1-1, Igor Jesús (d. 45+1); 1-2, Luiz Henrique (d. 89)
Referee: The Argentine Darío Herrera admonished Paquetá and Danilo for the visit, and Thomas Galdames, Esteban Pavez and Felipe Loyola for the locals.
Incidents: Match of the ninth day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup played at the National Stadium in Santiago.
