2026 CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying Table after Match Day 3

I'll never not giggle when i read CONMEBOL and CONCACAF

Venezuela got a legit chance and im all here for it

What happened to Ecuador?

Argentina's November window is going to be insane to watch. At home against Uruguay and then away at the Maracaná versus Brasil 🔥🔥🔥

Honestly, i actually would find it amusing that the first time Venezuela qualify for world cup is not through playoffs but legit straight through to the world cup. It would be an epic way, the team that never qualified does it in one step of needing the play off. Man, i said it before qualifiers started but Venezuela are a team to watch because they may not be in quality terms with the bigger teams of South America but what they bring is the unpredictability factor because they just tend to do better in matches they shouldn't and can even at times make qualifiers entertaining due to them just messing up the table standings by trying to win a match haha. Honestly, off the first three matches where they fought head on Colombia and nearly got a point there in spite of facing the Colombia that as we have seen today is honestly playing really well, beat Paraguay and drew 1-1 with Brazil with these two showing that Venezuela have what can be called inner fire/fighting spirit to refuse to give up no matter what happens to them (the ruled out goal before the penalty vs Paraguay and the fact they didn't give up despite going 1-0 in a seemingly foregone conclussion vs Brazil and managed to get the equalizer) sorry for getting hyped but ngl, Venezuela feel so far like a candidate for making the world cup

Since the World Cup expanded to 32 teams (in 1998), CONMEBOL qualifiers have consisted of 18 match days in a round robin home and away format. Previously, the top 4 finishers qualified directly and the 5th place qualified to the playoff/repechaje. With the 2026 expansion, CONMEBOL slots increased to 6 automatic and 1 playoff.

Here is some data regarding the 7th place finisher in every qualifier since 1998 (except for 1998 and 2014 as Brasil was auto-qualified as previous winner and host and only 16 matches were played):

The average 7th place finish earned 21.2 points. The most points for a 7th place finish occurred in the 2018 edition by Paraguay with 24 points (GD of -3). The least amount of points for a 7th place finish occurred in the 2002 edition by Bolivia with 18 points (GD of -12).

Additionally, you can look at how many points it would’ve taken to tie the 8th place finisher - as you could advance with a goal difference above the 8th place finisher but with the same amount of points.

The average 8th place finish earned 18.4 points. The most points for an 8th place finish occurred in the 2010 edition with 22 points (GD of -6). The least points for an 8th place finish occurred in the 2002 and 2022 editions with 16 points (GD of -11 and -14 respectively in those years).

25 points would seem to be the guarantee for at least a playoff spot, but as low as 16 could be enough in a cycle where the bottom teams struggle.

One additional note for anyone interested: In the 1998 and 2014 qualifiers (16 matches without Brasil), the 6th and 7th place finishers averaged 1.28 and 1.13 points per match. Compared to 1.18 and 1.02 points per match from 7th and 8th place finishers respectively in “normal” 18 match qualifying cycles.

Bolivia 😔 I had some faith in them

What's the hammer icon above Ecuador?

Kinda mad that Brazil will most likely never ever miss a world cup. You gotta mess up badly in SA qualifiers to not make the cut. Cant see it happening to them or Argentina ever in the future.

Upsets in general will become less likely with the tournament expanding time and time again but at least I feel like the big dogs in UEFA are somewhat in danger with only about 25% of teams making it. 70% making it is crazy.

Is it even worth to have qualifying only for South America? Maybe it'd be interesting to connect it with NA

Si empataron con Venezuela de local, no me quiero imaginar lo que va a ser con Argentina el mes que viene…

Hacemos la histórica?

I'm scared for Brasil x Argentina next month

This is the best Venezuela I've seen ever. I know Vini Jr. is just getting back, but Venezuela stood up to that Brazilian attack and made it very difficult for them to get around them.

Argentina is gonna qualify for the World Cup in 2024.

I love you Ecuador! Defeating Colombia would be huge, Vamos!

This will be a painful qualification, we MUST win against Bolivia on tuesday and try to get into the 6-7 points at the end of the year. Not much more we can do than that being the less-worked team because of all our coach issues.

Tomorrow all Ecuadorians are lining up to apologize to Kevin Rodriguez

Venezuela going to the world cup? Is that happiness for my country im seeing? #TENGOFE

For anyone interested, at this stage, 34 points will guarantee at least 6th and direct qualification. 32 points guarantees 7th and at least a playoff spot. At the other end, 8 points is needed to least obtain the playoff spot at the very minimum. These totals could of course change after next matchday.

The world needs to see Venezuela qualify for the 2026 World Cup with two of their matches in Miami and Houston.

I don’t know if La Verde can realistically turn this around. All I know is I GOTTA BOLIV

Con permiso 💅🏻

Tengo fe 🙏

I'm glad Brazil isn't playing very well in the qualifiers. We need a reality check. Every time we do badly in world cup qualifiers we end up being champions, in 2002 we barely qualified.

Gigante Venezuela! This might be one of the best CONMEBOL qualifiers in a while. Battle for the last few spots will be spicy.

These are the 7 that will qualify imo

In terms of results (not quality of play), I give the following grades for this match day: -US grading system because I just got citizenship recently-

Argentina: B - Expected win

Brasil: D (possibly F) - Tie at home against Venezuela is essentially a loss for Brasil

Colombia: C - Very winnable match, should’ve put the match away multiple times.

Uruguay: B - stole a point in a match where they struggled. Getting a point in Colombia is never a bad result. Maybe was the justified result given the handball goal for Colombia.

Chile: A - Needed 3 points in a home match against a beatable opponent. Also, it’s a clásico.

Venezuela: A - Historic result in Brasil

Ecuador: A - Despite subpar quality, 3 points at altitude is always an excellent result.

Paraguay: C - Although a loss was expected, they never seemed to threaten. Must win at home vs Bolivia on Tuesday.

Peru: D - Lost a clásico. Looking like their November window will be extremely important (at Bolivia, vs Venezuela).

Bolivia: F - Lost at home against an unusually poor Ecuadorian side. Didn’t even salvage a point.

Brazil tried really hard to get a win but it never came. Venezuela killed