Uruguay vs Brazil tips: Selecao to prevail in crunch World Cup qualifier
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 16 October 2023
With South America looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, football pundit Sergiu Baltuta takes a look at one of the biggest games in the fourth round of CONMEBOL qualifiers.
Date and Kick-off time
World Cup Qualification CONMEBOL, Wednesday October 18, kick-off 01:00 UK time
Suggested bets:
Uruguay take on Brazil at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo on Tuesday night, hoping to bounce back from a poor start to their World Cup campaign that has seen them win just one of their first three qualifiers.
Former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa is now in charge of the Uruguayan squad and the Argentinian coach has a good squad of players at his disposal, with players like Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool) and Manuel Ugarte (PSG), among others.
After kicking off their campaign with a 3-1 home win against Chile, the Uruguays suffered a surprising 2-1 defeat in Ecuador, when they failed capitalise on Augustin Canobbio’s first-half opener.
In their most recent game, the Celesti managed a useful 2-2 draw in Colombia, coming back from behind twice thanks to goals from Cristian Oliveira and Darwin Nunez, after James Rodriguez and Mateus Uribe had each given Colombia the advantage.
Brazil, on the other hand, started their qualifiers with a comfortable 5-1 home win against Bolivia, with Rodrygo and Neymar each bagging a brace, and a harder-earned 1-0 success in Peru - both games they would have expected to have won.
The same could be said of Friday’s home game against South American minnows Venezuela, but the Selecao allowed Gabriel’s opener to be cancelled out by a late equaliser and had to settle for a disappointing 1-1 draw.
The most recent games between the two teams was in 2021, when Brazil managed a 4-1 home win at home to back up their 2-0 success in the reverse fixture.
Indeed Brazil have not lost to their CONMEBOL rivals since a 1-0 reversal in 2001, since when the Selecao have won seven and drawn five of the 12 subsequent encounters, and after their slip-up against Venezuela they can be expected to get back to winning ways here.
Suggested bet: Brazil to win
