Five-time World Cup winners Brazil has struggled to impress in South America’s qualifiers for the 2026 tournament but defender Marquinhos had called on fans to stick by the side ahead of Tuesday’s home game against Uruguay.
With a run of five wins, four losses and two draws, Brazil is fourth in the standings on 17 points, five behind leaders Argentina, with the top six qualifying automatically for the World Cup in North America. Uruguay is second on 19 points.
Brazil was held 1-1 in Venezuela on Thursday, with Vinicius Jr seeing a late penalty saved, and stand-in skipper Marquinhos said the players still took pride in playing for the shirt even when results did not go their way.
“Even though many things might cause people to lose hope in the national team, we ask that they never lose their passion for it,” the 30-year-old told a news conference on Sunday.
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Brazil, who was beaten by Uruguay in Montevideo last year, is in a transitional phase under head coach Dorival Junior and it will take some time to iron out the problems, he added.
“We will still make some mistakes because this transition is still very new, with all these changes of players and teams,” said Marquinhos, who deputizes for regular captain Danilo.
“But we will make fewer and fewer mistakes and that makes us happy.
“We don’t worry too much about the standings as long as we’re in a comfortable position. We want to win to move up the table, make the work flow better, and gain confidence.”
Brazil goes into Tuesday’s match without a host of top players with defender Eder Militao and forwards Neymar and Rodrygo among those sidelined due to injury.
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