For a football-loving country ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, qualifying for 2022 Fifa World Cup can only be great news.

Brazil have become the first South American team to qualify for the mega event in Qatar. That too, with several matches left to play and more than a year before the tournament kicks off.

The Selecao registered 11 wins in 12 matches, while the latest came on Thursday night in Sao Paulo, when Lucas Paquet scored the only goal in the 72nd minute in a 1-0 win over Colombia.

The Selecao are 18 points ahead of fourth-place Chile, who can add only 15 points from their five remaining matches.

The top four teams in South America earn direct entry to the World Cup.

"This is the result of great work we started way back," Paquet 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," Paquet added.

How the match panned out

Paquet's goal came after Marquinhos found Neymar in the middle of the Colombia defence. Neymar quickly passed to Paquet, who beat goalkeeper David Ospina with a low-crossed shot that ended in the right corner of the Colombian goal. It was one of the few opportunities created by Brazil during the match.

Brazil sealed their qualification by giving coach Tite his 50th win along with 12 draws and five defeats. Tite took over Brazil in the middle of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia in 2018.

Also on Thursday, third-place Ecuador beat last-placed Venezuela 1-0 with a goal by Piero Hincapi 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.

(With AP inputs)