Montevideo: Philippe Coutinho shrugged off his transfer disappointment with a goal as Brazil beat Ecuador to guarantee top spot in South America’s 2018 World Cup qualifying race while Chile and Argentina stumbled once more. Liverpool star Coutinho, who had seen his hopes of a dream move to Barcelona dashed earlier on Thursday as the transfer window slammed shut with no agreement, produced a scintillating second-half display in a 2-0 victory over Ecuador in Porto Alegre.
The 25-year-old has not played for Liverpool this season, officially sidelined by a back problem as the intrigue over a move to the Camp Nou swirled. However Coutinho showed no sign of injury after coming on for Renato Augusto in the second half, enlivening the hosts after a goalless first 45 minutes before a restless home crowd in Porto Alegre. New Barcelona signing Paulinho opened the scoring for Brazil, lashing home from close range in the 69th minute after Willian's corner.
Coutinho then fashioned Brazil’s second, playing Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus into space behind the Ecuador back four with a lofted pass. Jesus wrongfooted the covering Ecuador defence with a sublime flick and then headed into the path of Coutinho who finished emphatically. The win was Brazil’s ninth consecutive qualifying victory and gives the five-time World Cup winners an 11-point cushion with three games remaining. The top four teams in South America's round-robin competition qualify automatically for next year’s finals in Russia, with the fifth-placed team facing a play-off.
The scramble for automatic qualifying spots promises to go down to the wire, with only two points separating second- placed Colombia (25 points) and fifth-placed Argentina (23 points). Paraguay also thrust themselves into contention with arguably the performance of the day on Thursday, a 3-0 away win over Chile.
The Results:
Brazil 2 (Paulinho 69, Coutinho 76) bt Ecuador 0.
Uruguay 0 drew with Argentina 0.
Chile 0 lost to Paraguay 3 (Vidal 24-og, Caceres 55, Ortiz 90+3).
Peru 2 (Flores 55, Cueva 59) bt Bolivia 1 (Alvarez 72).
Venezuela 0 drew with Colombia 0.
