Porto Alegre: Paulinho and Philippe Coutinho struck second-half goals as the Brazilian football team won its ninth consecutive World Cup qualifier with a 2-0 victory over Ecuador.
The result at Gremio Arena saw Brazil move to 36 points in the 10-team South American zone standings, 11 points clear of second-placed Colombia. Ecuador stayed on 20 points, three points shy of the automatic qualification places.
Brazil’s talismanic forward Neymar had a frustrating night in his first international match since completing a world record €222 million ($261 million) move to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona.
As expected, Coutinho began on the bench, having not played for Liverpool for almost a month amid speculation linking him with Barcelona.
After a first half in which Brazil looked in control but lacked inspiration, the playmaker was introduced on the hour mark and he immediately changed the course of the match.
Suddenly, the Selecao looked more composed going forward and in the 69th minute the hosts got their reward when Willian’s corner fell to Paulinho, who appeared to have all the time in the world to blast his shot in from the edge of the six-yard box.
Minutes later, Coutinho glided past two defenders and lofted a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Gabriel Jesus. The Manchester City forward then flicked the ball over his opponent’s head and headed a pass back to Coutinho who guided a first-time shot past goalkeeper Maximo Banguera.
Meanwhile, France and Belgium all posted lopsided wins.
The Portuguese, powered by a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick, routed Faroe Islands 5-1 while France cruised 4-0 past the Netherlands. And Belgium embarrassed Gibraltar 9-0 on Thursday, reports Efe.
Leading the second-place Greece by six points, Belgium look all but assured of winning Group H and a ticket to next year’s tournament in Russia.
Thomas Meunier and Romelu Lukaku scored three goals each against the Gibraltarians.
In Paris, the French took the lead in the 14th minute on a goal by Antoine Griezmann and added three more in the second half to whip the Dutch.
Thomas Lemar had a brace for the hosts while 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe scored in stoppage time.
The victory, combined with Sweden’s 2-3 loss to Bulgaria, gives France a three-point lead over the Swedes for the top spot in Group A.
Sitting fourth, two points behind Bulgaria, the Dutch see their chances of qualifying growing slimmer.
Portugal, meanwhile, continue looking up at Switzerland, who maintained their perfect record on Thursday with a 3-0 triumph over Andorra.
The Swiss have 21 points, three more than Portugal. Hungary, 3-1 victors against Latvia, are in third place with just 10 points and virtually out of contention for the second qualifying spot in the group.
Greece, who drew 0-0 at home against Estonia, have 13 points and face a fight for second place in Group H. The third-place team, Bosnia Herzegovina, blew an opportunity to leapfrog the Greeks, losing 0-2 to visiting Cyprus.
Elsewhere New Zealand beat Solomon Islands 6-1, Hungary defeated Latvia 3-1 and Uganda beat Egypt 1-0.
Iran kept their unbeaten run in the 2018 World Cup qualifier after they drew 0-0 with South Korea at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
