- La Vinotinto and La Celeste tied without goals in the eighth round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
- Uruguay has 15 points in the table, while Venezuela has 10 units.
Venezuela put Uruguay under pressure, but Marcelo Bielsa’s team ended up taking a 0-0 draw away from home on Tuesday, in the match on Matchday 8 of the South American Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup – United States, Mexico and Canada 2026.
The Celeste goalkeeper, Sergio Rochet, was the star of the match on a rainy night at the Estadio Monumental de Maturín, in which the Vinotinto tried to raise its head after the 4-0 defeat suffered by Bolivia.
With this result, Uruguay falls from second to third place in the table, with 15 points, behind world champions Argentina with 18, and Colombia with 16.
Ecuador follows this trio with 11 points and Brazil and Venezuela add 10 each, all in the direct qualification zone, awaiting the result of the Canarinha against Paraguay.
– Match Numbers –
- Uruguay reached ten games unbeaten against Venezuela for the first time in the history of the South American Qualifiers. However, this streak includes more draws (7) than wins for the Celeste.
- Three Uruguayan players made their debut in the qualifiers as starters (Santiago Bueno, Emiliano Martínez and Guillermo Varela), while two others were in the starting eleven for the second time in the competition (Cristian Olivera and Lucas Olaza).
- Sergio Rochet and Brian Rodríguez, who were the most experienced among the Celeste starters, have played just 11 games since the start of the qualifiers.
- Against Uruguay, Venezuela had its highest records in shots (20), shots on goal (6, equal to what it did against Chile) and shots from inside the area (10) in a match of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
- Venezuela did not concede a goal in four home games in the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup (2W 2D). It is the same number of clean sheets they achieved in the 18 home games in the last two editions of the qualifying competition.
- Defender Lucas Olaza was the Uruguayan player with the most shots (3) and expected goals (0.14 xG). In addition, it was Olaza himself who had the most interventions (79) for the Celeste in the game.
CONMEBOL.com / AFP / OPTA
