Montevideo: Lionel Messi produced a magical display to get Argentina’s World Cup qualification back on track on Tuesday as Brazil notched their sixth consecutive victory to put one foot in the 2018 finals in Russia.
Messi curled home a stunning 30-yard free-kick and set up goals for Lucas Pratto and Angel Di Maria in a 3-0 win over Colombia in San Juan.
Tuesday’s win left Argentina in fifth spot in the 10-team standings, with 19 points from 12 games. The top four sides qualify automatically for the 2018 finals while the fifth-placed team goes into a play-off with the first-placed team from the Oceania zone.
Colombia, meanwhile, slipped to sixth place following the defeat, one point behind Argentina.
Brazil march on
Only a miraculous sequence of results is likely to deny Brazil an automatic qualifying place following Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Peru in Lima.
Manchester City-bound teenager Gabriel Jesus was the hero once more, scoring one goal and laying on another for Renato Augusto to give Brazil a sixth consecutive win under new coach Tite.
The result left Brazil four points clear at the top of the standings with 27 points from 12 games.
With six games left, Brazil should be safe with something to spare.
In Santiago meanwhile, Chile continued their recovery with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Uruguay. Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez was the hero, scoring twice for the Chileans in the second half after Eduardo Vargas had cancelled out Edinson Cavani’s first-half opener for Uruguay.
Sanchez and Chile had risked the wrath of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger after playing despite injuring a hamstring during training last week.
Wenger had expressed fear Chile had made a “suicidal” decision by playing Sanchez after the injury. But the in-form striker showed no sign of ill-health with two well-taken goals to seal a crucial three points.
Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo saved a late penalty from Luis Suarez as the two-time Copa America winners hung on for the win.
In other games Tuesday, Bolivia jolted Paraguay with a 1-0 win in La Paz while Venezuela slipped to the bottom of the standings after Ecuador coasted to a 3-0 victory in Quito. Ecuador are now third in the standings, three points behind second-placed Uruguay.
