The pope’s message to Brazilians: It will happen another time

Real Madrid forward Rodrygo scored the only goal as Brazil boosted their lacklustre 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 1-0 victory over Ecuador on Saturday.

Rodrygo's deflected 30th-minute strike was enough to secure all three points for Brazil, who were languishing in sixth place in the South American qualifying standings before Friday's result in Curitiba.

The five-time World Cup winners moved up to fourth place with 10 points from seven games after their third win of the qualifying campaign, but remain eight points adrift of leaders Argentina.

With the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico expanded to include 48 teams, the top six finishers in South American qualifying will be guaranteed a place at the tournament. The seventh placed South American team enters an inter-confederation play-off.

Brazil have struggled in recent international tournaments, losing in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup and failing to progress past the last eight at this year's Copa America.

The lack of fluency that has characterised their recent form was back in evidence against Ecuador on Friday, where despite dominating possession for long periods they created little in the way of clear-cut scoring chances, with only three shots on goal.

The breakthrough came on the half-hour mark, when Rodrygo collected the ball on the edge of the area, took a touch and then shot from 25 yards. The Real Madrid attacker's strike appeared to clip Ecuador defender Willian Pacho before flying in off the post.

Brazil's decision to ban X, formerly known as Twitter, has triggered a surge in users for Bluesky, a growing social media platform. Following a ruling by Brazil's Supreme Court, Bluesky reported gaining one million new users in just three days. Bluesky was first announced as a Twitter-backed project in 2019 to develop an open, decentralised social protocol.

Earlier on August 31, Bluesky shared that it was experiencing "all-time-highs for activity on Bluesky" and quickly topped the free iPhone app chart in Brazil, surpassing Meta's Threads, which ranked second. While the platform was initially launched in 2021, it only fully opened to the public in February 2024. The platform reached over 6 million users by May 2024.

In the midst of this showdown, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared to bid farewell to his followers on X, encouraging them to follow him on other platforms with Bluesky leading the list.

Starting line-ups for the World Cup third place playoff between Belgium and England in Saint Petersburg on Saturday (1400 GMT kick-off):

Belgium (3-4-3)

Thibaut Courtois; Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen; Thomas Meunier, Axel Witsel, Youri Tielemans, Nacer Chadli; Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard (capt)

Coach: Roberto Martinez (ESP)

England (3-5-2)

Jordan Pickford; Phil Jones, John Stones, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Rose; Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane (capt)

Coach: Gareth Southgate (ENG)

Referee: Alireza Faghani (IRI)

CONMEBOL said the referee and VAR made a mistake in not awarding Brazil a penalty during Tuesday's group-stage 1-1 draw against Colombia when defender Daniel Munoz tripped Vinicius Jr inside the box.

The play happened in the 42nd minute of the Group D top-of-the-table match at Santa Clara's Levi's Stadium when Brazil were leading Colombia 1-0 and Vinicius ran into the box from the left before Munoz brought him down.

Brazil players called for a penalty, but Venezuelan referee Jesus Valenzuela did not call a foul, and the VAR, led by Argentina's Mauro Vigliano, upheld the decision after considering that Munoz had touched the ball.

"In a challenge for the ball inside the penalty area, a defender does not touch the ball," South American soccer governing body CONMEBOL said in a video released on Wednesday.

"As a result, there is a contact that is not reasonable for the action. The referee fails to observe the action and allows play to continue.

"The VAR fails to identify that the defender did not touch the ball before recklessly contacting the Brazilian striker. Therefore, the VAR incorrectly confirms the original on-field decision."

The mistake proved costly for Dorival Jr's team, who needed a victory to snatch their CONMEBOL rivals the top spot in the group.

Brazil next face Group C leaders Uruguay in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

"After that, we conceded a goal. The referee was decisive. Only he and the VAR didn't see a penalty, which for sure was there," the Brazilian boss said after the game.

Brazil's Supreme Court cleared X to resume service in the country on Tuesday, after the social media platform reversed course and started complying with court rulings billionaire owner Elon Musk had previously vowed to resist.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who had been locked in a months-long feud with Musk, gave X the green light to resume operations in Latin America's largest country effective immediately.

In the decision, Moraes said X had met all the necessary requirements to start operating again in the country.

The platform formerly called Twitter had been suspended in Brazil, one of its largest and most-coveted markets, since late August after not complying with court orders related to hate speech moderation and failing to name a legal representative in the country, as required by law.

Musk, who had denounced the orders as censorship and called Moraes a "dictator," started to reverse his position in recent weeks, with his social media network blocking accounts flagged by the court, tapping a local representative and paying pending fines.

Moraes, in his Tuesday decision, ruled that Brazil's telecommunications regulator Anatel must work to allow X to come back online within 24 hours. Users in Brazil were still unable to access the platform as of 7 p.m. local time.

Through its Global Affairs account, X said it was proud to return to Brazil, adding that it "will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law" in the countries where it operates.

The Brazil dispute was one of a series of recent face-offs between Musk, who views himself as a champion of free speech, and governments including Australia and the United Kingdom seeking to prevent the spread of online misinformation.

Brazil's communication minister said on Tuesday that X's decision to pay the fines and comply with court orders was a "victory for the country."

"We showed the world that here our laws should be respected, by whomever it may be," Juscelino Filho said in a statement.

JUDICIAL BATTLE

X's suspension initially came after an individual ruling by Moraes, who has spearheaded a local crusade against perceived attacks on democracy and the political use of disinformation.

His ruling was later unanimously backed by a five-member panel of the Supreme Court and its chief justice.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also voiced support for the move, saying that people with businesses in Brazil must follow local laws and the world was "not obliged to put up with Musk's far-right ideology just because he is rich."

Justices flagged at the time, however, that they would be open to reconsidering the suspension if X complied with rulings. The social media company initially said it would not abide by them because they were "illegal."

Brazil is X's sixth-biggest market globally and as of April had about 21.5 million users, according to data platform Statista. During the suspension, many users migrated to rival platforms such as Bluesky and Meta Platforms META.O -owned Threads.

X had legal representation in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices in the country due to the orders from the court, which it dubbed "censorship orders," without naming someone to assume legal responsibilities for the firm locally.

That eventually triggered the suspension, in a judicial battle that also affected another prominent business controlled by Musk, satellite Internet provider Starlink, whose accounts Moraes temporarily froze in order to cover fines imposed on X.

A new X representative, lawyer Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao, was tapped in late September, when X also said it had started to block accounts ordered by the court.

Earlier this month, the firm paid pending fines it had previously disdained, opening the door for reinstatement in the country.

With the suspension, X remained out of service in Brazil during the final month of the country's municipal elections, which occurred on Sunday.

In many cities, however, including Sao Paulo - Latin America's largest city - mayoral elections will head to run-offs on Oct. 27.