Overview
Brazil will play their final home match in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against bottom-placed Chile in Maracana.
Selecao under the leadership of coach Carlo Ancelotti has gone through a chaotic journey. Meanwhile, Chile will be eager to escape the nightmare qualifying campaign.
Brazil can now play comfortably in the final two matches of the qualifiers after qualifying for the World Cup finals next year. However, overall this was an unimpressive campaign when Selecao floated in the danger zone many times and was still 10 points behind Argentina.
The gap between second and sixth place is only 3 points, proving Argentina's superiority over the other teams. Brazil will certainly be disappointed with their low score, behind Ecuador - a team that has been deducted 3 points.
Under the leadership of Ancelotti, Brazil started with a 0-0 draw in Ecuador and won 1-0 at home to Paraguay. Selecao have lost just one of their last eight games. And that defeat came on Argentina, right before Dorival Junior was sacked.
Their next match is against Chile - the loser in the first leg. This was Chile's fifth consecutive loss to Brazil in this campaign. Chile is now sure to finish at the bottom of the table.
In June, Chile suffered a 0-2 defeat to Bolivia - a team that played with 10 men for 70 minutes. This result marked the third consecutive time Chile have failed to qualify for the World Cup.
After that defeat, coach Ricardo Gareca resigned and was temporarily replaced by Nicolas Cordova. He will lead the team in the last two qualifying matches with the only goal of avoiding the bottom position.
However, any score for Chile against Brazil is considered an almost impossible task. They have only won 1 point and scored 1 goal away in 8 qualifying matches.
Chile have not scored any goals in 2025, and they can hardly hope to break this poor streak against Brazil. Remember, this is an opponent they have only defeated 8 out of 76 previous meetings.
Personnel situation
With a relaxed mind, Ancelotti has created conditions for Real Madrid players - his former club - to rest. Vinicius, Rodrygo, Eder Militao and Endrick are all absent, meaning Barcelona's Raphinha is the only La Liga player in the Brazilian squad this time.
Marquinhos is preparing to enter his 100th match for Selecao, but he will fight alongside young players. The remaining 7 defenders called up from Brazil have only played a total of 29 times for the national team.
On the other side of the front line, Nicolas Cordova has dropped 13 players previously called up by Ricardo Gareca, including Francisco Sierralta who is suspended.
The veteran trio Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal and Charles Aranguiz are all not on the list. Goalkeeper Brayan cortes is also absent. This means that all three of Chile's newly called goalkeepers have never played for the national team.
Expected lineup:
Brazil: Alisson, Vanderson, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Caio Henrique, Bruno Guimaraes, Casemiro, Raphinha, Joao Pedro, Estevao, Richarlison.
Chile: Gillier, Hormazabal, Maripan, Kuscevic, Suazo, Osorio, Echeverria, Loyola, Tapia, Brereton Diaz, Aravena.
The match between Brazil and Chile takes place at 7:30 a.m. on September 5 (Vietnam time).
