IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - WORLD CUP 2026 QUALIFIERS
Picture : James Rodríguez has scored his 12th goal in qualifying matches; he is one goal away from equaling Radamel Falcao (13) as Colombia's top scorer in World Cup qualifiers.
Statistics on WC 2026 qualifiers in South America (match-day 3)
*Venezuela, by a sensational 1-1 in Brazil, have broken the record that belonged to “Seleção Canarinha”.
Before this game, Brazil had 15 consecutive victories at home in qualifying phases for the World Cup (since a 2-2 against Uruguay in 2016).
It was the longest streak of home victories in the history of the South American qualifiers.
*This is the 2nd away draw for Venezuela against Brazil in the qualifiers, after 0-0 in 2009.
*Venezuela became the only team in the history that were losing an away qualifier vs Brazil until the last 10 minutes of the game and eventually achieving a tie.
*Eduard Bello is just the 2nd Venezuelan player to score a goal in Brazil in the history of qualifiers, after Christian Santos on 13 October 2015.
*Argentina (1-0 vs Paraguay) have now 8 consecutive games without conceding a single goal at home in the qualifiers; since 1-1 against Chile on 3 June 2021.
Only two teams achieved such a long streak in the history of the tournament: Peru between August 1969 and June 1985 (also 8 games) and Brazil between October 2016 and September 2021 (9 games).
*Argentina hit 6 times the woodwork over 3 starting games in this qualifying campaign: exactly the same amount as over the all 17 their matches in the previous edition.
*Lionel Messi, who appeared as a sub in the game vs Paraguay, did not lose any of the 24 games he played at the Monumental with the Argentine National Team (19 victories and 5 draws).
*Paraguay have only scored in 1 of their last 12 World Cup qualifying matches, an unprecedented record in the entire history of the South American qualifiers.
*Peru (0-2 vs Chile), like Paraguay, started this campaign by 3 non-scoring games. Adding their last qualifier for World Cup 2022 (the inter-zonal playoff, 0-0 against Australia), Peru have 4 consecutive qualifiers without scoring: their longest such series ever.
*Colombia (2-2 vs Uruguay) have not lost any of their last 13 matches (10 wins, 3 draws). Only once in history they have achieved an undefeated streak longer than the current one: 27 games between 1992 and 1994 (13 wins, 14 draws).
*Bolivia have lost 4 consecutive qualifiers at home (2-3 vs Chile, 0-4 vs Brazil, 0-3 vs Argentina and now 1-2 vs Ecuador) for the first time in the history. They are only one defeat away from equaling the worst streak at home.
*Rodrigo Ramallo has scored in 3 consecutive qualifying editions (2018, 2022 and 2026), something that only 3 other Bolivian players had achieved: Julio Baldivieso (1998, 2002, 2006), Joaquín Botero (2002, 2006, 2010) and Marcelo Martins (2010, 2014, 2018, 2022).
*Kevin Rodríguez (Ecuador) has scored the latest goal (in the 90+6th minute) to win a match in the whole history of the South American qualifiers. The previous record belonged to Diego Forlán (winning goal for Uruguay in the 90+4th to win 2-1 away vs Ecuador in 2009).