Sao Paulo, AP. A crucial goal from Lucas Paqueta helped Brazil qualify for next year’s World Cup in Qatar after beating Colombia 1-0 in the qualifying tournament. South American football body CONMEBOL reported that Brazil is the first country to qualify for the World Cup from the region.
The top four South American teams will qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup. With this win, Brazil has won 11 victories in 12 matches. Brazil still has several matches left, but they have already qualified a year before the start of the tournament. Brazil are 18 points ahead of fourth-placed Chile in the table. Chile have only five matches left and can only score a maximum of 15 points. This is the 50th victory for Brazil’s coach Tite. Under his coach, the team has played 12 matches drawn, while in five it has to face defeat.
Earlier, the match between Brazil and Colombia was goalless in the first half and both the teams could not score. In the second half, Paqueta scored in the 72nd minute to give the team a crucial lead, which lasted until the stipulated time. Paqueta’s only goal gave Brazil a direct entry into the World Cup. In other matches, third-placed Ecuador beat last-placed Venezuela 1-0. Piero Hincapie scored the only goal for Ecuador in the 41st minute. Meanwhile, Antoine Silva of Paraguay scored a suicide goal in the 56th minute as Chile registered a 1–0 victory over Paraguay.
Spain beat Greece
Pablo Sarabia’s penalty helped Spain beat Greece 1-0 in Group B. At the same time, the Group A match between Ireland and Portugal ended in a goalless draw. However, the points from the draw were advantageous for Portugal and would be enough to qualify for a draw against Serbia on Sunday.
