In the opening round of preliminaries in the South American region for the 2018 World Cup, Brazil – the only five-time World Cup champion – lost to Chile 2-0.
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The hosts had another big chance in the 68th minute, but Gonzalez dragged his shot across goal after being played in down the left by Vidal.
The Arsenal forward Alexis Sánchez and the Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal are doubtful for Chile’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil on Thursday after struggling to shake off injuries, coach Jorge Sampaoli said.
Should the unthinkable happen and world champions Germany lose their final match at home to Georgia then any draw between Poland and Ireland would see all three teams finish on 19 points and Germany would go out due to an inferior head-to-head record. He will also miss next week’s match against Venezuela. He lasted the full 90 minutes and even scored the Chilean’s second goal in the dying minutes.
The victory was just Chile’s eighth in 71 meetings against Brazil and first since 2000.
A hard-fought first half was light on goal scoring chances, with the best efforts coming in a flurry of action shortly before half-time when Chile nearly took the lead through Sanchez.
“But before that, the game was in the balance”, Brazil coach Dunga said. “So we need to be an intelligent team and play a very demanding game”.
In other qualifiers on Thursday, Uruguay overcame the altitude in La Paz to defeat Bolivia 2-0 with goals from Martin Caceres and Diego Godin.
Teofilo Gutierrez scored from a 36th minute header following a corner for 2014 World Cup quarter-finalists Colombia, who were without injured playmaker James Rodriguez.
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Brazil, who were without suspended Barcelona striker Neymar and lacked direction, will aim to get back on the winning track at home to Venezuela on Tuesday, while Chile will travel to Lima to face Peru.
