THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Now the pressure will increase even more on Diego Maradona and Argentina.
The two-time champions stumbled again in World Cup qualifying, losing to Paraguay 1-0 Wednesday night and falling out of the top four in the South American standings.
Nelson Valdez scored in the 27th minute for Paraguay, which clinched its fourth straight World Cup appearance.
"As long as I have a drop of blood left, I will fight to get Argentina qualified," said Maradona, who as captain led Argentina to its second World Cup title in 1986. "We’re not out of the World Cup. I’m not afraid of criticism. I’m not afraid of anybody. I’m going to continue no matter who criticizes me."
Maradona took over as coach last November, and Argentina has lost four of its last five qualifiers.
The Albiceleste are in danger of missing the World Cup for the first time since 1970. Only the first four South American teams are guaranteed berths in the 32-nation field, and the fifth-place finisher goes to a playoff against the No. 4 nation from North and Central America and the Caribbean.
In other results, it was: Brazil 4 Chile 2; Ecuador 3 Bolivia 1; and Venezuela 3 Peru 1.
At Asuncion, Paraguay, Valdez hit a post in the seventh minute and Jonathan Santana hit the crossbar in the 23rd.
Sergio Aguero started up front for Argentina in place of Carlos Tevez, who missed the match because of a knee injury. Argentina played a man short after Juan Sebastian Veron was ejected in the 53rd minute for receiving his second yellow card.
Argentina nearly tied it in the fourth minute of second-half injury time, when Martin Palermo headed back across the penalty area and Rolando Schiavi just failed to connect.
Brazil (9-1-6) leads South American qualifying with 33 points, three ahead of Paraguay (9-4-3). Chile (8-5-3) has 27 points, four ahead of Ecuador (6-5-5), five in front of Argentina (6-6-4) and six ahead of Uruguay (5-5-6) and Venezuela (6-7-3).
At Salvador, Brazil, Nilmar scored a hat trick to lead a Brazil squad missing regulars Kaka, Lucio and Luis Fabiano because of yellow card suspensions, and Robinho with an injury.
Chile, which needed a win to clinch a World Cup berth, erased an early 2-0 deficit with goals by striker Humberto Suazo in the 45th and 53rd minutes but couldn’t keep Brazil from its 11th win in a row.
At Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela Nicolas Fedor Miku scored a goal in each half to lead Venezuela past Peru and maintain its hopes of earning a spot at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Peru has 10 points and has been eliminated from any chance of qualifying.
At La Paz, Bolivia, Ecuador kept its hopes alive of reaching a third straight World Cup thanks to goals from Edison Mendez, Antonio Valencia and Cristian Benitez.
Gerardo Yecerotte scored in the final minutes for Bolivia, which has been eliminated from reaching next year’s finals in South Africa.