Brazil defeated Chile this Thursday by 1-2 at the National Stadium of Santiagowith goals from Igor Jesús and Luiz Henrique, Botafogo forwards, the last goal at the end of the match that gave Canarinha air in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. With this result, the five-time world champions occupy fourth place with 13 points , while La Roja remains ninth with 5, out of 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 Henrique’s left-footed shot in the 89th minute sank La Roja, who struggled to get at least a point with a tie but ended up succumbing.
Eduardo Vargas’s cross header to the left post of the goalkeeper Ederson surprised Brazil just seconds after the initial whistle had sounded. A play in which Felipe Loyola took 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’s frame, 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.
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 forward 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’ frame 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 in which they claimed a penalty to no avail. 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 shaky Lucas Cepeda, who came on instead, and Osorio looking for a goal, but Brazil punished again at the end with Luiz Henrique’s goalwho 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.
