ROSARIO: Brazil booked a place in next year’s World Cup and further threatened arch rival Argentina’s chances of qualifying by winning their South American qualifier 3-1 on Saturday. Luis Fabiano scored two goals and Luisao added another for Brazil, raising the pressure on Argentina coach Diego Maradona. The victory in the World Cup qualifier guarantees Brazil a place in next year’s 32-team tournament. The five-time champions have played in every World Cup. Six other nations have already advanced: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the Netherlands. South Africa qualifies automatically as host. Luis Fabiano scored in the 30th and 67th after Luisao opened the scoring in the 24th. Midfielder Jesus Datolo got Argentina’s goal in the 65th. “It’s going to be tough,” said Maradona, whose country has not missed a World Cup since 1970. “It will be more difficult because of today.” Brazil top the South American group with 30 points followed by Chile and Paraguay (27). Argentina are hanging on in fourth place with 22 with Ecuador and Colombia (20) right behind. The top four qualify automatically. The No 5 faces a playoff with the No 4 team from the CONCACAF region for another berth. In the four other matches in South American zone: Peru defeated Uruguay 1-0, Colombia downed Ecuador 2-0, Chile was held 2-2 by Venezuela and Paraguay beat Bolivia 1-0. Argentina benefited from Colombia’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador. Had Ecuador won, it would have moved ahead of Argentina and pushed the Gauchos out of the top four. Argentina had not lost a home qualifying match in 16 years. In the European zone qualifier, France, the 1998 champions, and Portugal suffered two more potentially fatal stumbles on the road to South Africa. The French were held to a 1-1 draw by Romania in Paris which kept them in second spot in Group Seven, four points behind leaders Serbia who they must visit on Wednesday in a must-win clash. Defeat in Belgrade would leave Raymond Domenech’s side facing having to qualify via the lottery of the play-offs. Portugal are in an even more precarious position after a 1-1 draw at Group One leaders Denmark in Copenhagen which virtually ended the 2006 semi-finalists’ hopes of automatic qualification. France took the lead through veteran captain Thierry Henry early in the second-half only for Julien Escude to put through his own net a few minutes later. Portugal have slumped to fourth place, seven points behind Denmark, three behind Hungary and two back from Sweden who won 2-1 in Budapest. World champions Italy saw off Georgia 2-0 to stay a point ahead of the Republic of Ireland in Group Eight. The Irish defeated Cyprus 2-1 to secure the three points. In Group Five, Spain crushed hapless Belgium 5-0 to wrap up their seventh win in seven games. If Spain beat Estonia in Merida on Wednesday, and Bosnia fail to beat Turkey, they will qualify for the finals with two games to spare. Russia edged Liechtenstein 3-0 in Group Four to move just a point behind leaders Germany and Scotland grabbed a 2-0 win over Macedonia. Scotland on Wednesday need to beat the Netherlands, who have already qualified with a perfect 21 points from seven matches, to keep up their slim hopes of booking a play-off place. Ukraine saw off Andorra 5-0 to stay in contention for the runners-up spot in Group Six where England are virtually assured of making the finals having won all of their seven matches. Croatia stay second thanks to a 1-0 home win over Belarus. Switzerland went top of Group Two with a 2-0 home win over Greece. Slovakia and the Czech Republic drew 2-2. Only Europe’s nine group winners are assured of places in the finals; the eight best runners-up have to go through play-off. In the CONCACAF zone, United States beat El Salvador 2-1.