IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - CONMEBOL WORLD CUP 2026 QUALIFIERS
Picture : Darwin Núñez (Uruguay) is 5th player with goal and assist against Brazil in the same qualifying match. Others who managed to do it: Fabián Estay (Chile, 2000), Marcelo Salas (Chile, 2000), Salvador Cabañas (Paraguay, 2008), Edgar Benítez (Paraguay, 2016).
Statistics on WC 2026 qualifiers in South America (match-day 4)
*Uruguay have ended the longest unbeaten streak in the history of the South American qualifiers. Between 0-2 defeat in Chile in 2015 and yesterday's 0-2 in Montevideo, Brazil had 37 consecutive qualifiers without a single defeat (28 wins and 9 draws).
*Last time Uruguay had a 2-goal advantage against Brazil 40 years ago, in Copa América 1983 (they won also 2-0).
*Brazil have only gained 1 point in a double qualifying round for the first time in 14 years (1-2 defeat in Bolivia on 11 October 2009 and a 0-0 draw at home against Venezuela on 14 October 2009). But at that time Brazil have already qualified for World Cup 2010 and didn’t points actually.
*All Brazil's last five losses by 2+ goals in qualifiers were against Argentine coaches (ruling always different teams):
1-3 vs Bolivia in 2001 (Habegger),
1-3 vs Argentina in 2005 (Pekerman),
0-2 vs Paraguay in 2008 (Martino),
0-2 vs Chile in 2015 (Sampaoli),
0-2 vs Uruguay in 2023 (Bielsa).
*Argentina (2-0 away win vs Peru) prolonged to 23 games their series of games without conceding in a first half-time.
Over the last 39 games, they only conceded 1 goal in a first half (against Chile in January 2022).
*Leo Messi didn’t score to Peru before in the qualifiers. Peru became his 8th victim in the competition, with Brazil the only team still avoiding goals from him.
*Estadio Nacional in Lima became the 13th stadium where Messi scored in the qualifiers. It is maximal number among all players in the history of tournament.
Messi has surpassed Neymar who did it in 12 different stadiums. Luis Suárez follows them with 11.
*Venezuela (3-0 vs Chile) have only needed to play 4 games in this tournament to earn 7 points. On the way to World Cup 2022, “Vinotinto” had to play 10 games to reach that same amount.
*It was very special game for Salomón Rondón. He scored one of goals and equaled Juan Arango as the top Venezuelan scorer in the history of the competition (12 goals for each).
Also, he has played his 100th game with Venezuela and became 4th player in the history of his national team to reach this milestone, after Juan Arango, Tomás Rincón and José Manuel Rey.
*Marcelino Núñez (Chile) has proved to be an expert at doing things, either positive or negative, very quickly.
In the game vs Venezuela, he became the Chilean player who has taken the shortest time to be sent off as a substitute in the qualifiers (13 minutes 43 seconds).
In the previous round vs Peru, he became the Chilean player who has taken the shortest time to score a goal as a substitute in the qualifiers (1 minute 54 seconds).
*Bolivia (0-1 vs Paraguay) have now 66 consecutive away qualifiers without winning: a world record.