Overview
The Brazilian team will visit the final match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America against Bolivia.
Selecao has officially qualified for next year's World Cup, while Bolivia is competing with Venezuela for a place in the intercontinental play-off round.
Bolivia still has fragile hopes of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since the 1994 World Cup in the US. Their only chance is through the intercontinental play-off round, after failing to get one of their six direct spots.
This team is currently in eighth place, 1 point behind Venezuela in seventh place, with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 10 losses after 17 matches. Coach Oscar Villegas' team missed the opportunity to level or take the lead against Venezuela in their away match at Colombia, when they lost 0-3 at Barranquilla.
Bolivia will have to quickly regain their spirit before the difficult match against Brazil. A win would be enough to earn them a playoff spot if Venezuela lost to Colombia. However, this hope will be even more difficult because they have not beaten Brazil since a 2-1 home win in October 2009.
Meanwhile, Brazil has officially won a ticket to the 2026 World Cup by maintaining a record of appearing in every final round throughout history.
Notably, Brazil has gone through 3 different coaches throughout this year's qualifying campaign. Starting with Fernando Diniz as interim manager, Dorival Junior will take over, before Carlo Ancelotti was appointed in May.
The former Real Madrid coach started with a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, before leading the team to a 1-0 win over Paraguay, thereby officially winning a ticket to the World Cup.
Ancelotti also helped Brazil win 3-0 at home against Chile, with goals from Estevao Willian, Lucas Paqueta and Bruno Guimaraes. Selecao is currently ranked second on the rankings with 28 points.
The Italian captain also has reason to be satisfied when Brazil kept a clean sheet for 3 consecutive matches - a significant improvement compared to 3 clean sheets in the first 14 qualifying matches.
Despite facing the challenge of competing at the highest level at El Alta, Brazil is still completely confident. They have won six of their last seven meetings with Bolivia.
Personnel situation
After starting in attack against Colombia, Roberto Fernandez may retreat to the left wing of the defense in the final match of the qualifying round. This will pave the way for Carmelo Algaranaz to start, alongside Moises Paniagua and Miguelito.
Oscar Villegas is likely to keep the midfield together with Robson Matheus, Ervin Vaca and Gabriel Villamil.
On the Brazilian side, Ancelotti has dropped Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo to experiment with other options ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Neymar is absent due to a leg injury, while Eder Militao has not been used at all after recovering.
Ancelotti also cannot call up Alex Sandro, Vanderson, Joelinton, Matheus Cunha and Kaio Jorge due to injury, while Casemiro is suspended due to a second yellow card in the qualifying campaign.
The Italian captain could make some changes, giving Paqueta, Luiz Henrique, Samuel Lino and Richarlison the opportunity to start to evaluate the squad ahead of the World Cup.
Expected lineup:
Bolivia: Lampe, Medina, Haquin, Morales, Fernandez, Matheus, Vaca, Villamil, Panaiagua, Miguelito, Algaranaz.
Brazil: Alisson, Wesley, Marquinhos, Alexsandro, Henrique, A. Santos, Guimaraes, Henrique, Paqueta, Lino, Richarlison.
The match between Bolivia and Brazil takes place at 6:30 a.m. on September 10 (Vietnam time).
