Relying on the first goals scored by Igor Jesus and Luis Enrique, Brazil defeated Chile away and rose to fourth place in the South American standings, breaking the curse of not being able to win away from home in the World Preliminary Championship for one year.
In their two World Cup matches in September, Brazil won 1-0 against Ecuador and then lost away to Paraguay. "Global Sports" pointed out that only 1 win and 4 losses in the last 5 games have made the situation of the Brazil team precarious, and may even miss the World Cup.
It is worth mentioning that Samba Legion have scored just 1 goal in these 2 games. In fact, Brazil have scored just six goals in six games since the Copa America game against Costa Rica. With the exception of the first game against Paraguay, the Samba Army have scored just two goals in their other five games.
After 8 rounds, Brazil is in 5th place in the South American zone. October is a great opportunity for the Samba Army to pick up points. The two opponents, Chile and Peru, ranked 9th and 10th respectively.
However, Dolívar also has an injury crisis, with Vinicius and Militão both missing their two cores due to injury. In such a situation, Dolívar made a surprising choice, with Igor Jesus and Abner both making their international debuts, with the former forming an attacking line with Savinho, Rodrygo and Raphinha.
Just 69 seconds into the opening period, the unmarked Vargas headed home the fastest goal in Chile's history. After being hit in the first stroke, Brazil gradually took the initiative but did not equalise until half-time, when Igor Jesus scored his first goal for his country with a header.
It wasn't until the 89th minute that the Samba Army finally took the lead, when substitute Luis Enrique cut in and scored his maiden goal with his left foot in the net.
After the comeback victory over Chile, Brazil moved up to fourth place in the standings, ahead of Ecuador and Bolivia. This is Brazil's second away win in this World Qualifier, breaking the curse of three consecutive away defeats in the World Qualifier since September 13, 2023. Meanwhile, Brazil extended their winning streak against Chile since October 11, 2017, winning all five matches.