Brazil have recovered from conceding an early goal to beat Uruguay 4-1 in Montevideo on Thursday (Friday NZT), with midfielder Paulinho scoring a hat- trick in a win that all but cements their place at next year's World Cup finals in Russia.
The victory gave Tite his eighth win in as many games in charge and lifted leaders Brazil to 30 points in the 10-team South American qualifying group - a tally that has been more than enough to guarantee qualification in previous campaigns.
The five-time World Cup winners lead second-placed Uruguay by seven points with five rounds remaining.
The weakened home side took the lead after eight minutes with a penalty from Edinson Cavani.
Brazil defender Marcelo tried to chest down the ball to his keeper but Cavani nipped in to intercept and was pulled down by Alisson to earn the spot kick.
Brazil hit back 10 minutes later with Paulinho firing home a spectacular right- foot shot from 30 yards.
Paulinho scored his second on 52 minutes when he knocked in the rebound after Uruguay goalkeeper Martin Silva could only parry Roberto Firmino's shot.
Neymar extended the lead in the 75th minute when he seized on a long ball to outrun Sebastian Coates and deftly lob the stranded Silva.
Paulinho sealed the result on 90 minutes with his third goal of the night, expertly chesting the ball into an open net from close range, from a Dani Alves cross.
Lionel Messi converted a penalty as Argentina laboured to a 1-0 win over Chile in Buenos Aires.
Messi beat Claudio Bravo from the spot in the 16th minute after Angel Di Maria had been felled in the box during a tense match on a terrible pitch.
The victory put Argentina back in the automatic qualifying spots for next year's finals, moving them up from sixth to third on 22 points. Chile, 20 points, fell to sixth on goal difference.
Colombia beat Bolivia 1-0 in Barranquilla, with an 83rd minute penalty deciding their encounter in favour of the hosts.
Captain James Rodriguez had his initial effort saved by Carlos Lampe but the goalkeeper could do nothing to stop the follow-up strike being blasted into the net.
The points lifted Colombia to fourth place on 21 points. Bolivia are languishing second from bottom on seven points.
Elsewhere, Ecuador's 2-1 defeat in Paraguay resulted in them dropping from third to fifth.
Bruno Valdez put Paraguay ahead on 12 minutes before Junior Alonso struck to double the advantage 20 minutes in to the second half.
Felipe Caicedo reduced the deficit from the penalty spot on 70 minutes but it proved nothing more than a consolation goal as Ecuador remain on 20 points.
Seventh-place Paraguay are now just two points adrift of Ecuador and Chile.
Peru salvaged a 2-2 draw at rock-bottom Venezuela to stay in touch with the top five.
The hosts led 2-0 at the break courtesy of goals from Mikel Villanueva (24th) and Romulo Otero (40th).
Peru struck back early in the second-half through Andre Carrillo and Paolo Guerrero equalised on 64 minutes.
The point take Peru to 15 with Venezuela miles off the pace on six.
The top four teams qualify automatically for Russia 2018 and the fifth-placed side go into a playoff with a team from Oceania.
Reuters
