Brazil saved a draw (1-1) playing at home against Uruguay

A whip from Gerson nullified a great goal by Federico Valverde scored seven minutes earlier and sealed a 1-1 draw in Salvador that consolidated Uruguay in second place in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday and relegated Brazil to fifth place. .

With 20 points out of a possible 36, the team led by Marcelo Bielsa was left in the shadow of Argentina, which is alone with 25, and Brazil, which today wasted the possibility of reaching that second place, lost ground until falling to fifth with 18, one less than those of Ecuador and Colombia, third and fourth in the league.

La Celeste scared away a streak of disappointing results between Friday and Tuesday by defeating Colombia in Montevideo and signing a draw away from home today, while Brazil suffered again with its ghosts by drawing 1-1 with Venezuela and today at home.

The first chapter of the game in Salvador left 47 minutes of intense play, with quick transitions to the goals of Ederson and Sergio Rochet.

Although Canarinha had more control and moved the ball with deep changes of front, Celeste arrived with more danger.

Although Vinícius Júnior caused concern at the dawn of the match, between minutes 20 and 23 the visitors created anxiety through Facundo Pellistri, Marcelo Sarachi and Rodrigo Bentancur.

Raphinha appeared imposing with a frontal shot above the horizontal, but in an irregular position. ‘Fede’ Valverde responded with a quick and devastating maneuver, and in the 46th minute Igor Jesús was able to break the balance with a header that followed a corner kick, and which did not go in due to Rochet’s good position.

The dark clouds that were gathering over Brazil soon darkened their outlook in the second half.

Valverde, Uruguay’s number 15, took advantage of a rebound given by the Brazilian defense on the border of his area that ‘Maxi’ Araújo took.

The Real Madrid player eluded Bruno Guimarães on a tile and with Ederson’s goal in front he unleashed a sharp, low shot that filtered through the goalkeeper’s left side.

55 minutes had passed, ‘Fede’ scored his second goal in the qualifiers, his eighth with his team, and the party at the Fonte Nova stadium was Uruguayan.

Given the risk of fire, Dorival Júnior responded with the entry of Gabriel Martinelli and Luiz Henrique on the field.

Brazil took over spaces in the middle of the field, advanced their lines and just 7 minutes later, in the 62nd minute, they found the ‘Open Sesame’ with a furious shot from Gerson outside of Rochet’s payouts.

The Flamengo midfielder thus celebrated his first goal with the Canarinha, which in turn covered up the team’s difficulties in dominating the last Brazilian and Uruguayan qualifying match of the year.

Next, the game consumed its minutes between the locals wanting power without power, while Uruguay once again felt comfortable in their willingness to hold on and take advantage of the opponent’s mistake.

The South American World Cup qualifiers that will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico will resume next March with the thirteenth and fourteenth rounds.

On March 20, Verdeamarela will host Colombia and Celeste will host the leading team, Argentina.

Five days later, Brazil will visit Lionel Messi and company, and Uruguay will ascend to 4,150 meters of El Alto to challenge Bolivia.

1. Brazil: Ederson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Abner (d.57, Gabriel Martinelli); Bruno Guimarães (m.80, André), Gerson (m.85, Lucas Paquetá), Savinho (m.72, Estevao); Raphinha, Vinícius Júnior and Igor Jesus (mm.57, Luiz Henrique).

Coach: Dorival Junior.

1. Uruguay: Sergio Rochet; Guillermo Varela, José María Giménez, Mathías Olivera, Marcelo Saracchi; Federico Valverde, Manuel Ugarte, Rodrigo Bentancur; Facundo Pellistri (m.66, José Luis Rodríguez), Darwin Núñez (m.46, Rodrigo Aguirre) and Maximiliano Araújo (m.81, Cristian Olivera).

Coach: Marcelo Bielsa.

Goals: 0-1, m.55: Federico Valverde. 1-1, m.62: Gerson.

Referee: The Chilean Piero Maza admonished Ugarte, Varela, Paquetá.

Incidents: Match of the twelfth day of the South American World Cup qualifiers played at the Fonte Nova stadium, in Salvador, capital of the northeastern state of Bahia.