IFFHS CONTINENTAL STATS AND NEWS - SOUTH AMERICA WC 2026 QUALIFIERS
Picture : Miguelito Terceros scores in his 3rd consecutive qualifier for Bolivia !
Statistics on WC 2026 qualifiers in South America (match-day 9)
Chile vs Brazil 1-2
*Eduardo Vargas has scored Chile's earliest goal (at 1 minute 9 seconds) in the history of the Qualifiers.
Waldo Ponce (vs Peru in 2011, at 1 minute 16 sec.) and Alexis Sánchez (vs Peru in 2009, at minute 27 sec.) took a little bit more time for scoring.
*This goals is also the earliest that Brazil has conceded in the qualifiers. The previous record belonged to Hernán Crespo (at 3 minutes 29 seconds) in June 2005.
*It was the 3rd case as a local team that scored in the first 2 minutes of a South American Qualifiers match and ended up losing, after:
Peru vs Ecuador (1-2, in 2001, after Pizarro's goal at 1 minute 18 seconds),
Ecuador vs Argentina (1-3, in 2017, after Ibarra's goal at 38 seconds).
*Previously, Chile have only lost 3 qualifying games at home after scoring the first goal of the match (also against Paraguay in 1954, against Colombia in 2012 and against Argentina in 2016).
*Brazil have last come back to win in a competitive match in 2021 (3-1 away vs Venezuela).
*Chile experience their worst historical start in the Qualifiers (just 5 points after 9 rounds).
Venezuela vs Argentina 1-1
*Venezuela have gained points against all three South American grands, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina (all time a draw), in the same qualifying process, for the first time in history.
*Venezuela remain undefeated at their Maturín stadium in Qualifiers (3 wins and 4 draws).
*Venezuela avoided defeat against a current world champion for the 1st time in their history (they had previously lost against Brazil in 2004 and 2005, against Spain in 2011 and 2012).
*Salomon Rondón is just the 2nd Venezuelan player to score against a team, current world champion.
The first was Ruberth Morán who scored a brace against Brazil on 9 October 2004, also in the Qualifiers.
*Rondón scored his 13th goal in Qualifiers surpassing Juan Arango (12) to become the top Venezuelan scorer in the history of competition.
Earlier, Rondón has already become Venezuela's top scorer in the Copa América (surpassing Dolgetta this summer) and top scorer of the “Vinotinto” overall.
Ecuador vs Paraguay 0-0
*Paraguay are the first team in the history of the World Cup Qualifiers (in any confederation) whose first 9 games only generate as few as 5 goals (2 their own and 3 from their rivals).
*In the South American Qualifiers only, this is twice fewer (!) than 2nd fewest amount after 9 rounds, Ecuador’s on the current campaign (10 goals, 6 for and 4 against). The next is Colombia on the way to 2010 with 12 goals (4 for, 8 against).
Bolivia vs Colombia 1-0
*Bolivia have beaten the only team that remained undefeated in these South American Qualifiers.
*Bolivia linked 3 consecutive wins (vs Venezuela, Chile and Colombia) for the first time since 1993.
*Colombia is the 2nd South American team to lose a qualifier despite playing more than 70 minutes with numerical superiority.
The first was Paraguay, against Ecuador on 24 April 2001 (1-2, with Augusto Poroso sent off in the 18th minute)
*Miguelito Terceros scores in his 3rd consecutive qualifier. He is 5th Bolivian player to do it, after Porfirio Jiménez (1977), Carlos Aragonés (1981), José Alfredo Castillo (2005) and Marcelo Martins (2020).
Peru vs Uruguay 1-0
*The Miguel Araujo’s winner is just 3rd Peru’s goal in their last 13 competitive matches (other two were scored by Yotún vs Venezuela and Callens vs Colombia).
*Peru achieved their first win in this qualifying campaign while Uruguay failed to equal the historical record of consecutive games without conceding a goal in the South American Qualifiers. That record is shared by Argentina and Brazil, with 6. Uruguay stopped their run at 5.
Curiously, “La Celeste” conceded last goal in the competition exactly a year ago (on 12 October 2023, vs Colombia, scorer: Mateus Uribe).