Carlo Ancelotti had long been seen as the ideal candidate, but the Italian legend reaffirmed his commitment to Real Madrid until 2026. That opens the door to a new round of speculation. Al Hilal’s Jorge Jesus leads the shortlist, while Palmeiras’ Abel Ferreira, another Portuguese tactician with Brazilian experience, is also in contention.

“We have to rethink everything we’ve been doing, because the demands will come; the people want us to win,” he said.

All eyes were on Brazil's Raphinha ahead of the game after his explosive comments on Romario TV, where he boldly promised Argentina would be “beaten up” both on and off the pitch.

Five-times World Cup winners Brazil have won just once in their last four games and Marquinhos urged his team mates to turn things around as quickly as possible.

Argentina punched their ticket to the 2026 World Cup with flair, delivering a stunning 4-1 demolition of arch-rivals Brazil in Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning (Bangladesh time)

Argentina’s dominance, both in spirit and in skill, now sees them march into the 2026 World Cup with confidence, while Brazil must return to the drawing board to salvage their qualifying campaign.

The result in the match held in the Bolivian city of El Alto guaranteed the 2022 World Cup winners a top-six finish and direct qualification for the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Brazil have not beaten the reigning world champions in six years, a run that extends to 16 years for matches hosted in Argentina.

"We'll beat them up... Absolutely! Beat them up! On the pitch and off the pitch if we have to," Raphinha said in an interview on "Romario TV" with the Brazilian great.

Monday's 3-0 victory over Latvia at Wembley, like Friday's 2-0 defeat of Albania, was far from perfect. But Tuchel already has credit in the bank for some wise decisions.

It was a huge boost for Tony Popovic's men in the race to come second in Asian Group C behind runaway leaders Japan and automatically qualify for the 48-team tournament in North America next year.

Messi scored a stunning goal in Inter Miami's 2-1 win at Atlanta United in Major League Soccer (MLS) on Sunday but felt a muscle discomfort, local media reported.

The former Australia international had coached the team since August 2018.

The Bangladesh contingent returned home from Qatar yesterday following their World Cup 2026 Qualifiers campaign.

In the first leg, the Socceroos crushed Bangladesh 7-0 at the Aami Park in Melbourne in November last year.

Five-time World Cup winners Brazil will rely on their fans in a sold-out Maracana stadium to give them an extra boost to recover after losing back-to-back games in the qualifying competition for the first time in their history.

One of the most sought-after contests in world football will take place amongst two of the fiercest rivals as Brazil square off against world champions Argentina in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier contest at the iconic Maracana Stadium, kicking off at 6:30 am [Bangladesh Time] on Wednesday.