Brazil lost to Colombia; Argentina leads South American rankings

Brazil and Argentina both suffered defeats in the fifth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America. This was considered a big surprise as both Brazil and Argentina were rated higher than their opponents.

The match between Brazil and Colombia in the South American World Cup qualifiers. (Source: Reuters)

In the match on the morning of November 17, Brazil lost 1-2 in their away match at the Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez Stadium of the Colombian team.

Brazil got off to a good start with Gabriel Martinelli opening the scoring in the fourth minute and maintained the advantage until the 74th minute of the match.

However, when the time entered the 75th minute, the Colombian team successfully took advantage of the opportunity to equalize 1-1 after Luis Diaz's close-range header.

Just 4 minutes later, Luis Diaz continued to shine with a dangerous header, helping Colombia come back to win a dramatic 2-1 victory over Brazil.

This victory helped coach Nestor Gabriel Lorenzo's team end a streak of three consecutive draws in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Notably, this is also the first time the Colombian team has won against Brazil since June 18, 2015 - the match in which they won 1-0 at Copa America.

By coming from behind to defeat Brazil, the Colombian team has temporarily risen to third place on the rankings with 9 points after 5 matches.

On the other side of the front line, the defeat caused the Brazilian team to go through a third consecutive match without a win, including two defeats.

After 5 matches, the Brazilian team only has 7 points, falling to fifth place in the 2026 World Cup qualifying round rankings in South America.

Argentina national team captain Lionel Messi. (Source: Reuters)

Along with Brazil, the Argentina team also suffered a "bitter defeat" when they lost 0-2 to the Uruguay team right at home at Alberto Jose Armando Stadium.

Ronald Araujo broke the deadlock with the opening goal in the 41st minute after a pass from Matias Vina from the left wing.

Unexpectedly conceding a goal, Lionel Messi and his teammates continued to increase pressure on Uruguay but were unsuccessful. On the contrary, the home team conceded another goal at the end of the match.

From the situation of Messi stealing the ball, Uruguay organized a quick counterattack and ended perfectly with the goal that sealed the score 2-0 by striker Darwin Nunez.

This result caused the Argentine team to receive its first defeat in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Argentina is still leading the rankings with 12 points, two points more than the team right behind them, Uruguay.

Also in this series, Venezuela and Ecuador shared points after a goalless draw. Venezuela currently has 8 points to rank fourth, while Ecuador has only 5 points after five matches.

In a notable match, Chile also only won one point at home after a 0-0 draw against Paraguay.

In the match between the two bottom teams, Bolivia got their first win after beating Peru 2-0 thanks to goals from Henry Vaca Urquiza and Ramiro Vaca.

With this victory, the Bolivian team has 3 points, surpassing Peru (one point) to escape the bottom of the rankings.

World Cup 2026 qualifying round rankings in South America after 5 matches:

Team		Number of matches	Win	Peace	Defeat	BT	BB	Difference	Point
1	Argentina	5	4	0	1	7	2	+5	12
2	Uruguay	5	3	1	1	10	5	+5	10
3	Colombia	5	2	3	0	5	3	+2	9
4	Venezuela	5	2	2	1	5	2	+3	8
5	Brazil	5	2	1	2	8	6	+2	7
6	Ecuador	5	2	2	1	4	3	+1	5
7	Paraguay	5	1	2	2	1	2	-1	5
8	Chile	5	1	2	2	3	6	-3	5
9	Bolivia	5	1	0	4	4	11	-7	3
10	Peru	5	0	1	4	0	7	-7	1

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/vong-loai-world-cup-2026-doi-tuyen-brazil-thua-nguoc-colombia-argentina-dan-dau-bang-xep-hang-khu-vuc-nam-my-250353.html