Brazil vs. Bolivia

Estadio Municipal de El Alto, El Alto, Bolivia, September 9, 2025

Kickoff: 7:30PM EDT / 8:30 PM BRT / 11:30 PM GMT

US TV/Streaming: ViX Deportes ($8.99/month), Fanatiz ($59.99 pay-per-view).

Likely Starting XI: Alisson, Vitinho (Wesley), Fabrício Bruno, Alexsandro, Caio Henrique; Andrey Santos, Bruno Guimarães e Lucas Paquetá; Luiz Henrique, Samuel Lino e Richarlison.

On The Bench: Bento, Hugo Souza; Caio Henrique, Wesley(Vitinho), Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães; Jean Lucas, Andreas Pereira (replaces the injured Kaio Jorge); Gabriel Martinelli, João Pedro, Raphinha. (Casemiro is suspended after receiving a yellow card vs. Chile.)

Notes and Storylines

Once again I find myself having no time to write one of these—I really need to stop doing that! We’ll see if my life calms down a bit by the October games!—but there are a few things I wanted to note ahead of (hopefully) doing something a bit more in-depth after this international break is over.

First of all, Carlo Ancelotti is doing something we really didn’t see from his predecessors in the job: he’s treating his first few games like an audition, rather than hitting on a preferred team early on and sticking with it till the death. Something like a dozen names from this week’s squad weren’t called up for the June games (a couple of those due to injury, but still), and reports have Dom Carlo dialing up an almost completely changed XI from Thursday’s game against Chile, with Alisson and Bruno Guimarães the only holdovers. He seems to be deliberately, systematically evaluating as many players as he can, and I want to say that’s a good thing rather than the random flailings of a man who doesn’t know much about Brazilian football.

If nothing else, look at the lineup Tite rolled out in his first game in charge of Brazil back in 2016, or the one Luiz Felipe Scolari was using by the second game of his ill-fated tenure that ended at the 2014 World Cup. You can already see all the players we’d all be blaming for their respective World Cup losses less than two years later (look, there’s Gabriel Jesus! And Willian! And Paulinho! And Marcelo! And on this side, here’s Dante! And David Luiz! And Júlio César! And Fred! And, uh, Marcelo.), all part of the starting XI almost from day one. Hopefully all this rotation means we won’t fall into the same trap this time.

I wasn’t thrilled by Thursday’s performance, though the late goals were very nice and put some gloss on things. Before Lucas Paquetá and Luiz Henrique came off the bench and livened things up, the play was dragging in much the same way it always did under Dorival Júnior, with the 4-2-4 formation seeming to stifle attacking impetus rather than lend to it. You can certainly point to improvements in the team’s play after just three games under Ancelotti: some of the quick passing combinations seem sharper, and the defense is objectively better (Brazil last kept three consecutive clean sheets in early 2022, four whole coaches ago). It may well be rose-colored glasses, but it felt like Tite brought a much more dramatic instant improvement when he replaced Dunga in 2016. The Chile game actually kind of reminded me of Tite’s debut against Ecuador: a solid performance turned into something else by a late flurry of goals. (But in retrospect, that Brazil had a prime version of Neymar, and Ecuador were down to ten men by the end…)

I don’t know what Luiz Henrique’s ceiling is, but he now has more goals+assists in this World Cup qualifying cycle than Vini Júnior, despite having played just a quarter of Vini’s minutes. He’s certainly benefited from opportunities against Brazil’s weakest opponents (his goal contributions all came against Chile or Peru), but with international football, you have to take what you’re given and make the most of it, and he’s made more of what he’s been given than almost anybody who’s donned a Seleção jersey during the past three years—certainly more than João Pedro or Savinho or Gabriel Martinelli; arguably more than Vini or Rodrygo.

Speaking of João Pedro, every time I watch him for Brazil it seems like he’s phasing in from a parallel reality where things happen just a second or two later than they do in ours. Thursday’s case in point: when he absolutely clobbered Martinelli in the six-yard box while chasing a cross that had already sailed over his head. (To be fair, Martinelli was not looking at the play.) I hope he’ll improve with time, but I’d already hoped he’d improve after moving to Chelsea and that part hasn’t happened yet.

Also, while the goals were nonetheless really nice, I’m still a bit unnerved by our difficulty finishing. I think our three goals were finished from a combined… I dunno… six inches out? I’ll grant that Raphinha’s shot was still probably looping in before Estêvão made sure of it, and Luiz Henrique’s shot ahead of the third goal did look like it tipped off the goalkeeper onto the crossbar. But it still feels like Brazil has to work so hard to actually put the ball in the net. I want to dig deeper into that at some point.

Bolivia, then. Somehow, they’ve moved their stadium higher since last time, to the city of El Alto on the high plain above the mountain valley that houses La Paz. This game will be contested at a staggering 13,400 feet (almost 4,100 meters) above sea level, a full 1,600 feet/500 meters more than their previous fortress, the Estadio Hernando Siles. On top of that, while we have nothing to play for (thankfully—could you imagine having to get a result here on the last day?), Bolivia must win this game to keep their slim hopes of qualifying alive. And luckily for them, they haven’t lost at home in qualifying since December of 2023. Not exactly the best environment in which to throw a totally changed starting XI. Still, back in 2022 Tite ended Brazil’s 40-year winless streak in La Paz in style with a 4-0 win. And you know what? I’m feeling a bit optimistic! I think we might be able to eke out a 2-1 win.