Brazil down Venezuela, Argentina held away

Lionel Messi. Pic/AFP

Leaders Brazil and second-place Argentina had uninspiring performances in their World Cup qualifying matches, but gained key competition points as they try to secure their direct spots for Qatar next year.

Playing without suspended Neymar and injured Casemiro, Brazil won 3-1 at Venezuela, and Argentina had a goalless draw at Paraguay. Brazil trailed bottom-of-the-table Venezuela until the 71st minute, when Marquinhos leveled the match in Caracas. Gabriel Barbosa scored the second goal from the spot and substitute Antony scored the third in added time.

Lionel Messi was not enough for Argentina to break Paraguay's defensive line.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliabilitsy and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever