Brazil vs Uruguay Preview

Brazil will look to wrap up 2024 with a win when they welcome Uruguay to the Estádio Fonte Nova for their 12th game of the CONMEBOL qualification cycle for the 2026 World Cup.

Brazil’s patchy form towards qualification for the tournament continued in their last outing as they were held to a 1-1 draw away to Venezuela. That result would be seen as two points dropped after star player Vinicius Junior missed a penalty that could have decided the game.

However, despite the poor result, the five-time world champions are still comfortably nestled in the top six of the standings. But unless they can secure a third successive victory on home soil here, the Seleção could lose their chances of topping the CONMEBOL World Cup standings for a fifth consecutive campaign so winning here is a necessity for the hosts.

Meanwhile, Uruguay will fancy their chances of ensuring that Brazil do not win here as they also have their own aspirations of topping the table since they were just three behind leaders Argentina heading into this clash. The bulk of the visitors’ points so far came early in the qualifiers campaign as they won four of their six WCQs in 2023 (D1, L1).

However, things have been less rosy for them recently, with only one win in their five games so far in 2024 (D3, L1). That victory came in their last outing against Colombia where Marcelo Bielsa’s men staged a dramatic comeback to win 3-2 thanks to a 101st-minute winner. That should have the Sky Blues feeling confident ahead of this tie. Also, the fact that they won their last two encounters against Brazil should also boost their morale, even though they won none of the 12 H2Hs prior to that (D3, L9).