Sao Paulo, March 25 (BNA): Ecuador and Uruguay have secured their spot in the soccer World Cup in Qatar, according to the Associated Press.
The third-placed Ecuadorians lost 3-1 to Paraguay on Thursday, but achieved one of the four direct places after the Uruguayans, in fourth, beat Peru 1-0 in Montevideo, a result that also allowed them to book their flights to Qatar.
Ecuador and Uruguay have 25 points on the table and the other teams can no longer get past it. They will compete for third place in the final round of South American Qualifiers.
Brazil and Argentina have already secured two direct locations in the region.
Uruguay’s Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored the goal that propelled both his team and Ecuador to the next World Cup in the 42nd minute from close range in a difficult match.
Robert Morales opened the scoring in the ninth minute, Ecuadorean defender Piero Hincabe scored an own goal from a long range of seconds before the end of the first half whistle and Miguel Almiron added the third goal in the 54th minute.
Fifth place, which qualifies for an international playoff against an Asian team, is still in the process of winning. Peru, with 21 points, can beat Paraguay at home on Tuesday. Colombia, with 20 points after their 3-0 win over Bolivia, needs to beat Venezuela and cheer against the Peruvians.
Chile, with 19 points, will have to beat Uruguay in Santiago and hope to have other results on their way. La Roja will not be too confident of this result after Brazil crushed them 4-0 at the Maracana.
Neymar scored from the penalty spot and soon Vinicius Junior made it 2-0 in the final minutes of the first half. Philippe Coutinho also scored from a penalty kick and Richarlison in the second half for Brazil.
Colombia managed to survive with their first goal in about 700 minutes in the South American qualifiers. They beat Bolivia with goals from Luis Diaz in the 39th minute, Miguel Borga in the 72nd minute and Mateos Uribe shortly before the final whistle.
The remaining match of the penultimate round of South American qualifiers for the World Cup will be played on Friday, when Argentina meet Venezuela in Buenos Aires.
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