Venezuela vs Brazil

Out-of-sorts Venezuela will play host to Brazil in what appears to be a routine World Cup qualifying task for the South America powerhouse.

South American minnows Venezuela are well on course of failing to qualify for their first-ever World Cup finals, having returned just four points from nine World Cup qualifiers to date (W1, D1, L7). Nailed to the bottom of the South American World Cup qualification zone, the Venezuelans take the field as overwhelming outsiders after losing their last three World Cup qualifiers. What’s more, ‘La Vinotinto’ have suffered three consecutive defeats in their World Cup qualifying meetings with Brazil, drawing a blank in the last two in a row. Goals have been at a premium for Venezuela ahead of this encounter, with their five-goal tally remaining the lowest in the CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifying group. But it’s worth noting that the majority (60%) of those strikes have arrived on home soil.

In the meantime, Brazil are firmly in control of their fate going into the final stage of this World Cup qualifying campaign. After winning each of their eight World Cup qualifiers by an aggregate scoreline of 19-2, the ‘Selecao’ are en route to maintaining their 100% conversion rate in the World Cup qualifying campaigns. Additionally, the Brazilians have registered six consecutive shutouts in the competition (W6), with four of their six victories in this run yielding the identical 2-0 scoreline. Excluding their Copa America participation in 2019 and 2021, Tite’s men have won each of their seven away internationals since exiting the 2018 World Cup, keeping a clean sheet five times in the process. The visitors are only three wins away from mathematically sealing their place in next year’s showpiece, and they seem likely to make it to after this encounter.