Arsenal defenders secure clean sheets for Brazil & Ecuador | OneFootball

Arsenal’s CONMEBOL internationals were in action overnight on Thursday, with Gabriel Magalhaes and Piero Hincapie helping their teams to keep clean sheets.

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Brazil and Ecuador played World Cup qualifiers on Thursday night, with Arsenal’s left-centre-backs starting for their respective countries.

First up, Arsenal summer signing Piero Hincapie started for Ecuador away to Paraguay as they kept yet another clean sheet in a 0-0 draw.

Eight of Ecuador’s 17 World Cup qualification matches have ended 0-0 so far, with 12 clean sheets and zero instances of conceding more than one goal in a game.

Hincapie has started 11 of those 12 clean-sheet matches, and he’s only started two of the five in which Ecuador conceded a goal. The last time Ecuador conceded with Hincapie on the pitch was September 2024, against Brazil. He’s played for them nine times since then.

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After Ecuador’s draw Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli both made the lineup for Brazil’s 3-0 win over Chile.

Martinelli had one good chance in the first half, dancing between a couple of defenders to get into the penalty area, but he fired his near-post shot into the side-netting.

Gabriel perhaps went even closer to scoring, heading a corner goalwards and forcing a good save from the opposition goalkeeper. But most of his work was at the back, where he did well to hold Chile at bay.

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Both Brazil and Ecuador have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup, so their remaining qualification matches are purely about pride and their final positions in the standings.

Brazil play away to Bolivia in their final match, with Bolivia needing a win to try and keep their qualification hopes alive, whilst Ecuador play their last match at home to Argentina.

The two matches will take place on Tuesday night, or the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time.