Luis Suarez's Uruguay farewell ends in frustration

Former Liverpool and Barcelona striker's final international match ends in stalemate with Paraguay

Uruguay's Luis Suarez waves to fans, accompanied by his children, after his final match for his country in a goalless draw against Paraguay. AP

Luis Suarez was denied a fairytale ending to his international career as Uruguay played out a frustrating 0-0 draw to Paraguay in South American 2026 World Cup qualifying.

An emotional Suarez announced on Monday he was ending his 17-year international career after the game in Montevideo.

But Uruguay's record scorer was unable to add to his 69 goals in his 143rd and final match for Uruguay.

The former Barcelona and Liverpool star who now plays in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, was unable to find a way through a dogged Paraguay defence in a disjointed match littered with fouls.

The 37-year-old striker, whose career at international and club level was dogged by controversies such as his ban for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, was one of four Uruguay players to be shown a yellow card in a fractious encounter.

The result leaves Uruguay in second place in South America's 10-team round-robin qualifying tournament with 14 points from seven games, four points behind leaders Argentina.

Colombia's 1-1 draw with Peru in Lima on Friday keeps them third on 13 points.

The top six teams in the South America standings qualify automatically for the 2026 finals in North America with the seventh-placed team advancing to a play-off.

Brazil forward Rodrygo celebrates after scoring against Ecuador. AFP

Brazil back on track

Real Madrid forward Rodrygo scored the only goal as Brazil boosted their lacklustre World Cup qualifying campaign with a 1-0 victory over Ecuador on Friday.

Rodrygo's deflected 30th-minute strike was enough to secure all three points for Brazil, who were languishing in sixth place in the South American qualifying standings before Friday's result in Curitiba.

The five-time World Cup winners moved up to fourth place with 10 points from seven games after their third win of the qualifying campaign, but remain eight points adrift of leaders Argentina.

Brazil have struggled in recent international tournaments, losing in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup and failing to progress past the last eight at this year's Copa America.

The lack of fluency that has characterised their recent form was back in evidence against Ecuador on Friday, where despite dominating possession for long periods they created little in the way of clear-cut scoring chances, with only three shots on goal.

The breakthrough came on the half-hour mark, when Rodrygo collected the ball on the edge of the area, took a touch and then shot from 25 yards. The Real Madrid attacker's strike appeared to clip Ecuador defender Willian Pacho before flying in off the post.