Before the head-to-head meeting, the teams of Brazil and Argentina lost to Colombia and Uruguay

The South American football giants simultaneously suffered defeats in the fifth round of the qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup. The Brazilian national team lost away to the Colombians – 1:2, and the Argentina national team at home to the Uruguayans – 0:2. The misfire did not greatly affect the position of the Argentines, who remain leaders in the qualifications. But for the Brazilians, whose streak of matches without a win has already stretched to three games, it has made life very difficult.

The match in the Colombian city of Barranquilla turned into a great story. At the end of October, it became known that militants from the Colombian National Liberation Army kidnapped Luis Manuel Diaz, the father of the Liverpool forward and the Colombian national team, its, in fact, its main striking force, Luis Diaz. The unfortunate football player knew nothing about the fate of his father for two weeks. And along with him, the whole country was worried about him. And a few days ago, Diaz Sr. was finally released. And he found himself at the stadium to watch his son compete with the most titled team in the world.

And Diaz Jr. in the second half, with the score 0:1, scored twice in a row with an interval of four minutes and killed the Brazilians. The television cameras happily showed how his father and mother, who, by the way, also survived the kidnapping but were not in captivity for long, rejoiced on the podium, and how the hero-attacker could not hold back his tears.

Although, of course, this Colombian success was a consequence not only and, perhaps, not so much of the insight of Luis Diaz, as of Brazilian difficulties. The great team had already looked unclear in qualifying. Having opened it with wins against the Bolivians and Peruvians, she then managed to play in a draw with the modest Venezuelans and lose without any options to the Uruguayans. And for the match against the Colombian team, personnel problems were added to the game problems: three core players were out of action at once – striker Neymar, defensive midfielder Casemiru and goalkeeper Ederson. And already in the middle of the first half, Vinicius, who started the match perfectly, was added to the list of losses due to a thigh injury, from whose pass Gabriel Martinelli scored the first goal.

The Brazilian attack immediately faded, and the weaknesses in defense began to hurt the eye. Neither Emerson Royal, who played on the right, nor Marquinhos, who was later sent by coach Fernando Dinir to personally take care of the striker who rode the wave of inspiration, could not cope with Luis Diaz.

To say that now, after the Brazilians stumbled for the third time in a row, the tournament situation for them has transformed from simply difficult to critical, would be a bit of an exaggeration. As many as six out of ten South American teams will definitely qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, the composition of which has been increased from 32 to 48 teams, and the seventh will have a reserve chance in the form of play-offs. But all the same, the hassle in the selection process for the five-time winners of the world championships is apparently guaranteed. They are currently only in fifth position. Moreover, the eighth-placed Chileans are only two points behind the Brazilian team. And ahead, on Tuesday, they have a home match at the legendary Maracana against the most important and dangerous opponent – the Argentines.

True, the Argentine team, which reached the November window with a crystal clear record of four victories, slightly spoiled the impression of its capabilities in the fifth round, losing at home to the Uruguayans. And what is important here is not so much the fact of the breakdown itself, which did not particularly affect the strength of the position of the world champions, but the style of the match. The guests did not suffer for the win, but took it confidently, scoring absolutely deserved goals at the end of each half.

After the end of the meeting, Lionel Messi openly admired the density of the Uruguay team’s play, especially in the middle of the field. Neither he nor his partners, it seems, were completely prepared for it. And the terrible discomfort of the Argentines is evidenced by episodes in which emotions poured out of them like a waterfall, forcing them to enter into clashes with the Uruguayans. In one, Messi, who grabbed his opponent by the throat, miraculously, solely due to the inattention of the judges, avoided a red card.

Alexey Dospehov