The celebrations are on as Brazil became the first South American team to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, despite the fact that the tournament is still a year away.

CONMEBOL, the South American soccer body, announced Brazil as the region’s first team to qualify, with 11 wins in 12 games. The most recent was a 1-0 win over Colombia on Thursday night in Sao Paulo, with Lucas Paquetá scoring the game’s only goal in the 72nd minute. 

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The Seleço is 18 points ahead of fourth-placed Chile, which has only five matches left to score 15 points. 

South America’s top four teams are guaranteed a spot in the World Cup.

“This is the result of great work we started way back,” Paquetá said after the match in Sao Paulo which provided few opportunities for both teams.

“I cried of happiness (after scoring) because of this moment I am living at the national team and at my club Lyon. This came from a lot of joy, joy for this work well done,” Paquetá added.

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His goal came after Marquinhos found Neymar in the middle of the Colombia defense. 

Paquetá beat goalkeeper David Ospina with a low cross shot into the right corner of the Colombian goal. It was one of the few chances that Brazil had during the match. 

Brazil qualified for the World Cup for the 50th time, with 12 draws and five losses under coach Tite. Tite took over Brazil in the middle of the 2018 World Cup qualification process in Russia.

Also on Thursday, third-place Ecuador beat last-place Venezuela 1-0 with a goal by Piero Hincapié and Chile had a key 1-0 victory at Paraguay thanks to an own goal by Antony Silva after a corner kick. 

Peru and Bolivia will face off later Thursday. Uruguay will host Argentina on Friday.

Brazil has 11 wins in 12 games after its match against Argentina in September being strangely suspended after only seven minutes due to concerns from authorities about violations of COVID-19 protocols. FIFA has yet to make a decision on whether or not it will be replayed. 

Ecuador (20 points) is in second place in the South American qualifiers, trailing Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay, which are all tied on 16 points. For the time being, the Chileans have the advantage in goal difference. 

The team that finishes fifth in the South American qualifiers advances to an intercontinental playoff for a place in Qatar.

With inputs from Associated Press