IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - SOUTH AMERICA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Statistics on WC 2026 qualifiers in South America (match-day 13)
Brazil vs Colombia 2-1
*Brazil's winning goal, at 98 minutes 21 seconds, is the latest goal scored by Brazil since June 2021, when Casemiro scored at 99:22 against Colombia in the Copa América (2-1).
*It is also the 2nd latest winning goal in the history of South American Qualifiers, behind only Uruguayan Manuel Ugarte's goal, also vs Colombia (at 100 minutes 4 seconds).
*James Rodríguez (picture) equaled Leo Messi and Luis Suárez's 13 assists in South American Qualifiers. He is now only ahead of Neymar (Brazil, 19) and Alexis Sánchez (Chile, 15).
*The last three times Colombia tied the score to 1-1 after losing in the Qualifiers, were always scored by Luis Díaz (also vs Brazil in 2023 and vs Peru in 2024).
*Luis Díaz has tied Diego Forlán (Uruguay) as the only players to score 3 goals against Brazil in the history of the Qualifiers.
*Luis Díaz is the first Colombian player to score in Brazil in the Qualifiers since Jorge Gallego's goal at Maracaná in 1969.
(Colombia's only goal in Brazil between these occasions, in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, was a Marquinhos own goal).
*The penalty awarded to Brazil (at 3 minutes 4 seconds) is the earliest awarded in a South American Qualifiers match since 11 June 2013 (penalty awarded by Ecuador to Argentina (Rodrigo Palacio at 1 minute 24 seconds.
Peru vs Bolivia 3-1
*Peru have scored in this game as many goals (3) as in the first 12 matches of these Qualifiers combined.
*Peru last scored 3 goals in a Qualifiers match on 11 November 2021, also against Bolivia.
*It took 8 years for a Peruvian player to score and assist in the same Qualifiers match. Andy Polo did it now, Paolo Guerrero was the last to do so in March 2017 (against Uruguay).
Paraguay vs Chile 1-0
*Paraguay have scored 3 goals from set pieces (2 of from Omar Alderete, the scorer of this game) in their last 2 home Qualifying matches, the same number as in their previous 17 home matches in the competition since September 2017.
*Paraguay continue their unbeaten run under Gustavo Alfaro in the Qualifiers: 4 home wins and 3 away draws. Unbeaten in 4 of its 7 matches and unbeaten.
*Paraguay have gone 7+ consecutive matches without losing for the third time in Qualifying history. Their record stands at 9 and dates back to 1997.
Uruguay vs Argentina 0-1
*Nico González is the first Argentine player to be sent off in the Qualifiers since 1 September 2016 (Dybala against Chile).
The last straight red card for an Argentine player in the Qualifiers was for Mascherano, against Ecuador, 12 years ago.
Ecuador vs Venezuela 2-1
*Venezuela have a run of 9 consecutive matches without a win (4 losses and 5 draws) that started after the victory against Chile in October 2023.
*Ecuador have come close to equaling a historic record but misses this chance. They had 5 consecutive matches without conceding a goal in the Qualifiers, and the record stands at 6 (shared by Argentina and Brazil).
Between Rodrygo's goal vs Brazil (in September 2024) and this one from Venezuela’s Cádiz, Ecuador has kept a clean sheet for exactly 600 minutes.
*Enner Valencia's goal at 26 seconds into the 2nd halftime is the earliest goal from a kickoff (first or second half) scored by Ecuador in the South American Qualifiers.
The previous record was held by Romario Ibarra, who scored in 2017 against Argentina, 38 seconds after the first half kickoff.
*Of the last 8 goals scored in the South American Qualifiers in the first minute of the second half, 6 have come against Venezuela.
*Enner Valencia became the first player to miss 3 penalties in the South American Qualifiers (also against Argentina and Uruguay).
*In the meantime, the Venezuela’s keeper Rafael Romo has saved the last 3 penalties missed in the South American Qualifiers, also from Enciso (Paraguay) and Vinicius (Brazil).
*Rafael Romo is the best penalty-saver in the history of the South American Qualifiers. He has had 5 penalties taken against him, and only one resulted in a goal.