sports desk //

Brazil lost 1-0 to Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match in Asuncion today. It was Paraguay’s first win against the five-time world champions since 2008. And Brazil? One statistic can explain the situation in Brazil. Between 2003 and 2022, Brazil lost only 5 of the 71 matches played in South American World Cup qualifiers. But this time in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, 4 losses after playing 8 matches!

Although coach Darival Jr. dreams of taking Brazil to the finals of the 2026 World Cup, the reality is that in order to play in that final, you must first get a ticket to reach the finals. And Brazil is not able to get advantage at all in the fight to get that ticket in the qualifiers. No, they haven’t lost their chance to reach the finals yet. Fate is still in their own hands. Brazil has played 8 matches so far on the way to play a total of 18 matches. But as the morning sun can be guessed, how the day can go, this time seeing the start of Brazil in the qualifiers, the fans can start to get excited!

A report from the country’s newspaper “O Globo” can increase the fumes of Brazil fans. They said Brazil had never had such a bad start to qualifying for the South American region. This can be explained. Each team will play 18 matches in the qualifiers of this continent. That is, 9 matches are half way of these 18 matches. Now let’s look at the points table. Brazil collected 10 points in 8 matches.

Darival’s team will play their ninth match against Chile next October. If they win that match, Brazil’s collection in 9 matches will be 13 points. It can also be said this way, Brazil can take a maximum of 13 points from the first 9 matches in the qualifiers. Brazil have never had so few points in their first 9 games in the South American qualifiers – the team has only finished 8 games.

Because the previous record was in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, where Brazil collected 16 points after their first 9 matches. At the end of 8 matches of service, Brazil’s collection was 13 points. Brazil’s 4-0 win against Venezuela in the ninth match saw Brazil’s collection stand at 16 points. It was Brazil’s worst start to half-way through World Cup qualifying so far. Darival’s team is likely to come under fire for breaking the record. Brazil got maximum 22 points after 9 matches in the qualifiers. In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Brazil had 22 points after 8 matches of service. The Brazil-Argentina match was canceled after being initially postponed.

Brazil captain Marcinios spoke of a lack of confidence after the loss. His explanation, ‘At the moment we do not have the confidence. So confidence should be lifted by winning the match. We focused on that in the last match, but today we failed to get it (confidence). We know how difficult the qualifiers are.

This Brazilian defender also said the way to raise confidence, ‘We have to play as a team, we have to increase solidarity with each other. Let’s support each other, I think that’s how confidence can be regained. That is by winning matches and playing well as a team.