Brazil first to qualify for World Cup

The five-times champions beat Paraguay 3-0 on Tuesday for their eighth successive win in the South American qualifying competition. 

That in itself was not enough to confirm their participation in Russia but Peru’s surprise 2-1 win over Uruguay in a later game guaranteed Brazil a top-four finish.

With four rounds of fixtures remaining, Brazil have 33 points, followed by Colombia (24), Uruguay and Chile (23). Argentina (22) are currently in fifth place, which earns a two-legged playoff against the top-ranked Oceania region side.

Uruguay and Argentina still have to face each other which means it is impossible for both to overtake Brazil. 

Argentina dropped down the standings after losing 2-0 away to Bolivia at high altitude in La Paz, weakened by the absence of Messi as he began a four-match suspension. 

The five-times world player of the year was banned less than six hours before kickoff for swearing at a linesman in the previous match, a 1-0 win over Chile. 

He will now only be available for the last of Argentina’s games, a potentially key match in Ecuador. 

Russia are guaranteed a place as hosts. 

The early part of the match was marked by a string of fouls on Neymar but the first big chance was a breakaway by Paraguay’s Derlis Gonzalez, who hurried his shot and put the ball wide.

Midfielder Hernan Perez missed another chance for Paraguay before Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring for the hosts in the 34th minute at the Corinthians Arena. 

The Liverpool playmaker played a neat one-two with Paulinho before curling a low, left-foot shot past goalkeeper Anthony Silva and inside the far corner.

Neymar was awarded a penalty after being brought down early in the second half but his stop-start run-up failed to deceive Silva and the keeper saved with a dive to his right then blocked his effort with the rebound. 

Stung by the miss, Neymar made up for it 10 minutes later skipping tackles and driving into the box before beating a wrong-footed Silva with a shot that took a deflection off a defender.

Bolivia 2 bt Argentina 0

Ecuador 0 lost to Colombia 2 

Chile 3 bt Venezuela 1

Brazil 3 bt Paraguay 0

Peru 2 bt Uruguay 1