Brazil,Chile sail

LONDRINA, Brazil, Jan 24: Brazil and Chile both closed in on a place in the round-robin final phase of Latin America's Olympic qualifying tournament on Sunday, Brazil defeating Ecuador 2-0 and Chile hammering Venezuela 3-0, reports AFP.

Brazil did the minimum at Londrina's Estadio Cafe in 30 degree heat before a somewhat apathetic 22,000 crowd as goals from rising star Ronaldinho after 17 minutes and Alex 11 minutes from time did the damage.

Wanderley Luxemburgo's men were below-par, but could afford to be in the face of weak resistance from Ecuador, who have lost three group matches on a roll.

The Brazilians, who opend with a draw against Chile, now have four points from two matches as have Colombia.

The Chileans vaulted into top spot in Group A with seven points from three games after their easy win over Venezuela.

Chile's hero was Hector Tapia, who scored twice two minutes before the interval and again on 58 minutes to add to a brace of penalties last week against Ecuador.

Neira was also on target with a header in the 51st minute as Chile ran out easy winners and they can assure their passage to the final round-robin phase from which two teams will qualify with a win next Wednesday over Colombia.