Montevideo: Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay secured places at the 2026 World Cup in the next-to-last round of South American qualifiers.

The Uruguayans and Colombians had 3-0 wins on Thursday, and the Paraguayans had a scoreless draw to advance to the global tournament along with already qualified Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador. Peru, which needed wins in the last two rounds to advance, is now out of contention following the loss to Uruguay. James Rodriguez opened the scoring for Colombia in the 31st minute while John Cordoba and Juan Fernando Quintero added second-half goals to secure the win over Bolivia. The Colombians return to the World Cup after missing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

It will be the Colombian team’s seventh appearance in the World Cup. After a debut in Chile in 1962, Colombia made three consecutive appearances between 1990 and 1998, and repeated in 2014 and 2018. World Cup champion Argentina defeated Venezuela 3-0 with two goals by Lionel Messi and remained well clear at the top of the South American standings.

Also on Thursday, Estêvão, Lucas Paquetá and Bruno Guimaraes scored as Brazil got a 3-0 win over Chile to ascend to second place in the standings.