Brazil made relatively light work of Bolivia in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup qualifications campaign on Friday evening local time, putting five goals past the visitors and conceding one in return. Rodrygo Goes broke the deadlock after 24 minutes, and Raphinha added the second two minutes after the break. Just five minutes later, Rodrygo landed his second on the night.
It was Neymar who scored the remaining two goals for Brazil, in the 61st and 93rd minute, with a solitary Victor Abrego goal for Bolivia (78′) in between.
Business as usual for Brazil
With the ball at their feet for 80% of the active play time, Brazil utterly dominated this contest, if contest even is the right word to describe it. The team commanded by Fernando Diniz took a total of 21 shots, 11 on target, while the visitors attempted four, three on target. It was always going to pan out this way; with all due respect to Bolivia, their quality simply isn’t of sufficient level to stand up to a team always named among the favourites to win the World Cup.
Playing games the whole world expects one team to win can sometimes be tricky and the pressure is always on, with anything less than three points earned representing failure with potential of turning costly in terms of the final rankings. Brazil obviously took the match seriously and made sure they got the job done, justifying the status of absolute favourites.
Thanks to the notable goal-difference in their favour after the first round, Brazil now top the table in the CONMEBOL region, ahead of Uruguay, reigning world champions Argentina, and Colombia, who all booked victories as well.
On the other hand, Bolivia will not be hoping for much in this campaign. A good performance and a surprise result here and there is probably the best they can do.
Neymar breaks Pele’s record
There may have been some concern from Diniz’s point of view about the way Neymar would perform in this match, given that the 31-year-old attacker underwent ankle surgery in February and hadn’t played since.
However, Neymar was completely in his element, the chief playmaker in a highly creative attacking team through the entire duration of the game. Not everything went his way, though, as he wasted a penalty early on with the score still standing at 0-0, but he will always remember Bolivia’s visit fondly, as the day when he broke Pele’s goalscoring record and became Brazil’s leading all-time scorer. Having come into the clash level with the legendary three-time World Cup winner on 77, Neymar now has 79 goals for his country to his name.
“I am very happy, no words for this,” the new Al-Hilal star said after the final whistle. “I never though I would reach this record.”
Neymar, whose career has mostly been overshadowed by the long-lasting brilliance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, has often prompted criticism with some unsightly elements in his game and split opinions within the football public, but there can be no doubt that surpassing Pele’s goalscoring record for Brazil is a remarkable achievement from a great player.
Controversies
There were also some intriguing refereeing decisions in this match. The penalty which Neymar failed to score was given for what was perceived as handball by Marcelo Sebastian Suarez Justiniano after 13 minutes, even though the arm which the ball struck clearly supported the Bolivia defender while he was making a sliding tackle and there was no intention to play the ball that way. Needless to say, the visitors protested fiercely, but referee Juan Gabriel Benitez from Paraguay was unmoved by the complaints and pointed decisively to the spot.
Further more, even Brazil were perhaps slightly wronged here, because two of their players were charging at the ball as it bounced away from the goal, each in a good position to shoot, when the whistle sounded. And in the end, Neymar took the penalty feebly and Bolivia goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra made a comfortable save.
Another moment of controversy happened when Rodrygo scored his second, Brazil’s third goal on the night. When Guimaraes sent his pass towards the Real Madrid winger, Richarlison was clearly offside, and it took some time for the referee and the VAR crew to establish if the Tottenham Hotspur striker influenced the game. He appeared to have hindered the movements of a Bolivia defeneder who possibly could’ve caught up with Rodrygo otherwise, but after a long review, the goal was allowed to stand.
Looking ahead
Brazil will have turned their attention already to the game they play away to Peru in a few days, seeking to go on as they started and book another three points on their way to the 2026 tournament in North America. A month later, they’ll welcome Venezuela and travel to Uruguay, which should be the first really tough challenge of this campaign for the Selecao.
As for Bolivia, Gustavo Costas and his men face another world-class team in Argentina next, and in October, they’ll play at home against Ecuador and away to Paraguay.
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