Brazil defeated Colombia 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday in Sao Paulo to become the first South American team to qualify for Qatar 2022.
Lucas Paqueta scored the crucial goal of the match in 72 minutes with a shot that was struck by goalkeeper David Ospina but could not be stopped.
The result means Brazil top the 10-team South American group with 34 points from 12 matches, nine clear of second-placed Argentina.
The top four teams automatically qualify for Qatar 2022 and the fifth-placed team advances to an inter-regional playoff.
“Colombia gets it too tight sometimes, so we need to use all the equipment we have,” Brazilian defender Marquinhos highlighted his improvement in the second 45 minutes.
“Our team was intelligent and when we opened in the second half we were able to take advantage of the gaps and therefore create more chances.”
The win extended Brazil’s home run in the qualifiers to 11 consecutive victories, a record in the South American region. The game also marked their 10th consecutive home qualifier without conceding a goal, another record.
The match in So Paulo was a vigorous contest in which either side imposed themselves on a rain surface in a physical game that resulted in 44 fouls and seven yellow cards.
In the first half, Wilmer Barrios and Duvan Zapata both saw shots over the bar for Colombia, while at the other end Danilo saw a deflected shot from the edge of the post and Marquinhos saw a header inches wide.
Introducing Mathias Cunha, Vinicás Jr. and Ajax winger Antony, Brazil made several offensive changes in the second half, but it took a moment of magic for Paqueta to decide the game when he took a pass from Neymar and fired home from inside. Gave. Box.
The result places Brazil in an unbeatable position, having won 11 of their 12 matches so far.
“We are ready,” said Marquinhos. “We just need to keep working, we have some games to play and we will give it our usual commitment. We know there isn’t much time to think, the World Cup comes quickly and we want to keep improving so when we get there we are in our best form.”
Who goes to Qatar with them is still an open question, which even after a night of lucrative results leads almost all other teams to believe they can still secure one of the places with Brazil.
Earlier in the evening, goalkeeper Antoni Silva gave Paraguay’s new manager Guillermo Barros Scheloto a losing start against Chile at home with his own goal.
Silva threw a corner from Alexis Sanchez into his own net after 56 minutes.
After winning just one of their first 10 qualifiers, Chile have now won their last three and Thursday’s win moved them to fourth on 16 points, on par with Colombia and Uruguay, who play Argentina on Friday. Huh.
Ecuador remains third in the group thanks to a 1-0 home win over Venezuela.
Piero Hincapie scored the only goal of the game four minutes before half time to take the home team to 20 points, five points behind Argentina.
Peru kept their qualification hopes alive with a 3–0 win over Bolivia in Lima.
Sergio Pea, Cristian Cueva and Gianluca Lapadula scored in a crushing performance in the first half to lift Peru up to 14 points.
Only two points now separate Peru and their top three teams Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.
Bolivia and Paraguay are two points behind, with only Venezuela at the bottom of the table with seven points.
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