With Brazil and Argentina all set for the World Cup, it was Uruguay who boosted qualification hopes

Argentina won 2-1 in Chile on a night of drama. Brazil drew 1-1 in Ecuador on an afternoon of barely credible drama. But Thursday belonged to Uruguay.

South America’s big two have already guaranteed their places in Qatar. Uruguay, the other member of the traditional big three, took a huge stride towards booking their slot with a 1-0 win away to Paraguay. It means they end the night fourth in the table — the last automatic qualifying position.They will be down in fifth — the play-off place — if there is a winner in Friday’s meeting of Colombia and Peru.

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But either way it is a big improvement on seventh, where they started the round. The result was a triumph for their debutant coach Diego Alonso, who had some big decisions to take in terms both of the personnel and the shape of the side.

Uruguay’s 4-4-2 has been looking jaded. But he found a way to liven it up. Veteran captain Diego Godin has been creaking at centre-back. So Alonso moved him to the right side, where he would be protected by Ronald Araujo, playing a defensive right back role. And with Matias Vecino operating in front of him in defensive midfield, Godin had less space to cover.

Up front Alonso decided against the old firm of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. Suarez started, with Cavani joining him for the last 20 minutes, replacing Darwin Nunez, whose mobility and capacity to pull out to the left allowed Suarez to concentrate on leading the attack. There were some new faces – Sergio Rochet in goal replacing the injured Fernando Muslera, Maxi Olivera at left back and Facundo Pellistri on the right of midfield.

But the line up was a declaration of faith in Godin and Suarez — and it paid off. Both hit the woodwork after first half corners, and soon after the restart they combined for…