{"id":356273,"date":"2025-09-10T07:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/356273\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T07:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:24:11","slug":"bolivia-upset-brazil-to-clinch-fifa-world-cup-2026-playoff-spot-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/356273\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolivia upset Brazil to clinch FIFA World Cup 2026 playoff spot | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">Bolivia pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the South American qualifiers to reach the World Cup playoff round.<\/p>\n<p>Published On 10 Sep 202510 Sep 2025<\/p>\n<p>Bolivia shocked Brazil 1-0 to secure a spot in the intercontinental playoffs for next year\u2019s World Cup, while Argentina suffered a 1-0 defeat by Ecuador in the final round of South America\u2019s 2026 qualifiers on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>Bolivia\u2019s Miguel Terceros converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time to secure the home win over five-time World Cup winners Brazil in La Paz, a result which saw Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s side drop to fifth in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n<p>Bolivia will be joined in the playoffs by two teams from CONCACAF as well as one each from the African, Asian and Oceania confederations, in the hunt for two places at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The playoffs will take place in Monterrey and Guadalajara in March.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-3937874\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AFP__20250910__73Y98G3__v1__HighRes__FblWc2026SamericaQualifiersBolBra-1757480421.jpg\" alt=\"Roberto Fernandez and Estevao in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/>Bolivia\u2019s midfielder Roberto Fernandez, left, and Brazil\u2019s forward Estevao fight for the ball during the match [Daniel Miranda\/AFP]Messi-less Argentina stunned by Ecuador<\/p>\n<p>While Ecuador and reigning champions Argentina had already qualified for the World Cup, there was no shortage of intensity in their match in Guayaquil.<\/p>\n<p>Argentina\u2019s Nicolas Otamendi was sent off in the 31st minute, and the hosts capitalised on their numerical advantage when Enner Valencia scored a penalty in first-half stoppage time.<\/p>\n<p>Ecuador were also reduced to 10 men when Moises Caicedo was dismissed in the 50th minute, but they held firm to claim the 1-0 victory and go second in the table.<\/p>\n<p>Argentina star Lionel Messi, who played his last official match at home last Thursday, did not suit up.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the loss, Argentina retained top spot in the standings with 39 points, nine ahead of Ecuador.<\/p>\n<p>Colombia secured third place with a 6-3 victory over Venezuela in Maturin, with Luis Suarez stealing the show by scoring four goals to extinguish Venezuelan hopes of clinching the playoff place.<\/p>\n<p>Uruguay finished qualifying in fourth place following a 0-0 draw with Chile in Santiago, while Matias Galarza\u2019s strike gave Paraguay a 1-0 win over Peru in Lima, leaving them in sixth place.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-3937878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AFP__20250910__73YA6TW__v1__HighRes__FblWc2026SamericaQualifiersEcuArg-1757480715.jpg\" alt=\"Enner Valencia in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/>Ecuador\u2019s Enner Valencia, right, scores the game-winning goal against Argentina in their World Cup CONMEBOL Qualifying fixture at the Monumental Banco Pichincha Stadium in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on September 9, 2025 [Marcos Pin\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bolivia pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the South American qualifiers to reach the World Cup&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[63547,7,62685,88,817],"class_list":{"0":"post-356273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-bolivia","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-latin-america","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115178809969691273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}