Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes combine for massive win that takes Brazil to brink of World Cup qualification | OneFootball

What a Thursday night (early hours of Friday morning in UK time) for Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton as Brazil moved to the brink of 2026 World Cup qualification.

Bruno started and Joelinton replaced an injured Gerson on 28 minutes.

Giving Brazil the Newcastle United midfield partnership that helped carry United to that win at Wembley on Sunday.

Brazil went into this match fifth in the South American 2026 World Cup qualifying group, with six matches left to play, the top six of the ten teams automatically qualify for those finals.

A sixth minute penalty from Raphinha had given Brazil an early lead but in a very open match, that was equalised by Diaz just before half-time. The Liverpool winger managing to make a major contribution, unlike on Sunday at Wembley.

Bruno Guimaraes was one of a number of players subbed off late on as Brazil looked for a winner and just as it looked like they’d have to settle for a draw, Vinicius Junior with a dramatic late deflected winnier in the ninth minute of added time.

Joelinton was on the pitch until the final whistle and picked up a yellow card, as did Bruno, Brazil only picking up three in total.

As you can see from the table below, whilst some teams have a game in hand (Uruguay v Argentina is played tonight), this result has put Brazil second in the table and now looking certainties to automatically qualify as one of the top six in the table (seventh goes into a play-off for the finals)

Brazil now with a massive match to come on Tuesday, when they face table topping Argentina. If they fail to beat Uruguay tonight, it could give Brazil even a chance of ending up as eventual group winners, if they can defeat Argentina on Tuesday.

What a week this has been for Joelinton and Bruno!

Also great to see former Newcastle United player Miguel Almiron and Paraguay win 1-0 last night against Chile, along with Brazil, Paraguay looking to have a massive chance of making those 2026 World Cup finals.

This is the March 2025 international schedule for Newcastle United players:

Thursday 20 March

Italy 1 Germany 2

Sandro Tonali man of the match for Italy in this Nations League play-off first leg.

Scored a very well taken ninth minute goal and ran the show for Italy, creating great chances for teammates that were wasted. Germany fighting back though to win it with two second-half goals.

Greece 0 Scotland 1

Odysseas Vlachodimos dropped to the bench, presumably due to getting no football with Newcastle United. Scotland scoring with one of only two shots on target to get a surprise win in the first leg of this Nations League play-off, McTominay from the penalty spot.

Slovakia 0 Slovenia 0

A great display from Martin Dubravka with some fine saves, to help keep Slovakia on level terms in the first leg of this Nations League play-off.

Brazil 2 Colombia 1

Bruno Guimaraes started and Joelinton replaced an injured Gerson on 28 minutes. A massive win in this World Cup group qualifier, Brazil now second in the South American qualifying group and now looking all but certain to be in those 2026 finals. A sixth minute penalty from Raphinha was equalised by Diaz just before half-time, Vinicius Junior with a dramatic late deflected winning in the ninth minute of added time.

Friday 21 March

England v Albania (Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento, Dan Burn) World Cup group qualifier

Saturday 22 March

Luxembourg v Sweden (Alexander Isak) Friendly

Sunday 23 March

Scotland v Greece (Odysseas Vlachodimos) Nations League Play-Off

Germany v Italy (Sandro Tonali) Nations League Play-Off

Slovenia v Slovakia (Martin Dubravka) Nations League Play-Off

Monday 24 March