Preview:Brazil vs Chile - prediction, team news, lineups

Brazil will play their final home 2026 World Cup qualifier against bottom-placed Chile at the Maracana on Thursday night.

It has been a chaotic road to the finals for the Selecao, who are now under the stewardship of Carlo Ancelotti, while Chile will be keen to see the back of a nightmare qualifying campaign.

Match preview

In what is now a dead rubber, Brazil can relax in their final two qualifiers after sealing their spot at the 2026 finals back in June.

It has been a dismal campaign for the most part though, as Brazil spent some time hovering dangerously close to missing out on the top six, and they still remain a whopping 10 points behind Argentina.

There are only three points between second and sixth, illustrating the gulf between Argentina and the rest, but Brazil will be disappointed to finish on such a low points tally, sitting behind Ecuador, who have had three points deducted.

Ancelotti started with a 0-0 draw in Ecuador, and a 1-0 home win over Paraguay, meaning the Selecao have only lost one of their last eight games though, and that was in Argentina, when Dorival Junior was eventually sacked.

Next up is Chile, and it was against their upcoming opponents where the tide finally turned in Brazil’s favour in the section, as a late 2-1 win in Santiago proved critical to keep them inside the automatic qualifying places.

That was a fifth successive defeat against Brazil for Chile during a campaign of many, many lows, and no highs, as they are set to finish rock bottom of the 10-team section.

An unmitigated disaster of a campaign continued at El Alto in June, as a 2-0 defeat in Bolivia, against a side who played with 10 men for 70 minutes, mathematically confirmed a third straight failure to reach the World Cup for Chile.

Ricardo Gareca stepped down as manager following that defeat, and he has been replaced by Nicolas Cordova, who will take interim charge of their final two qualifiers, in which the aim will be to avoid finishing last.

Any points here look improbable, considering Chile have taken just one point and scored only one goal on the road in their eight away qualifiers so far.

Chile are yet to score a competitive goal in 2025, and they would not have picked Brazil as the opponents to try to end that barren run, given that they have only beaten them eight times in 76 previous meetings.

Brazil World Cup Qualifying form:

Chile World Cup Qualifying form:

Team News

With little riding on the game, Ancelotti has helped out his former club Real Madrid by leaving Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Eder Militao and Endrick at home for this month’s qualifiers, meaning Raphinha of Barcelona is the only La Liga player in the squad.

Marquinhos is set to make his 100th appearance for the Selecao, but he will do so alongside inexperienced players, because the other seven defenders called up to the squad have a combined 29 caps between them.

Matheus Cunha will miss out after picking up an injury in Manchester United’s win over Burnley at the weekend, leaving the door open for in-form duo Joao Pedro and Richarlison to start through the middle.

After another dismal window in June, new Chile boss Cordova has dropped 13 players from the previous squad picked by Gareca, including the suspended Francisco Sierralta.

Veteran trio Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal and Charles Aranguiz have all been left out, and could be looking at the end of their international careers, while Brayan Cortes will also not be involved, meaning all three goalkeepers are uncapped.

A whopping 20 members of the Chile squad have less than 10 caps, and nine are yet to make an international appearance, in what is a complete clean sweep following a disastrous three-year cycle.

Brazil possible starting lineup:

Alisson; Vanderson, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Caio Henrique; Bruno Guimaraes, Casemiro; Raphinha, Joao Pedro, Estevao; Richarlison

Chile possible starting lineup:

Gillier; Hormazabal, Maripan, Kuscevic, Suazo; Osorio, Echeverria, Loyola; Tapia, Brereton Diaz, Aravena

We say: Brazil 2-0 Chile

Brazil should have little difficulty in seeing off an inexperienced and demoralised Chile side on home soil, considering the visitors have lost seven of their eight qualifiers on the road.

Ancelotti is yet to see his side concede since taking over, and another solid display across the pitch will be important, with little riding on the result.

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