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Brazil required a messy second-half goal from Roberto Firmino to beat Venezuela 1-0 and extend their 100% record to three wins out of three in a World Cup qualifying match in Sao Paulo on Friday.
The five-time world champions scored nine goals in their last two matches, but battled from the start against a resilient Venezuela, the only one of 10 South American teams that has never qualified for the World Cup final.
Richarlison put Brazil ahead in the seventh minute only for the goal to be chalked offside and a foul by the same player on the goalkeeper caused a second by Douglas Luiz to be disallowed five minutes before half-time.
The winner finally came from Firmino midway through the second half when he was well positioned to push the ball home from close range after a defensive header landed at his feet.
“We were able to compete and hurt them for a while,” Venezuelan midfielder Luis Mago said. “We made a mistake and we paid a high price for it.”
The victory means that Brazil has nine points out of nine. They have not lost a World Cup qualifying match since their 2-0 loss to Chile in 2015, 20 matches ago.
The result places them at the top of the South American qualifying group after three matches, while Venezuela, the only one of the 10 South American teams that has yet to score a goal, languishes alongside Peru in the second bottom, with just one point.
Bolivia is the only useless team after three games.
The top four teams from the 10-team pool automatically qualify for the final in Qatar in 2022 and the fifth-place team enters an interregional playoff.
Brazil’s next game is away to Uruguay on Tuesday, while Venezuela plays at home to Chile on the same day.
