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Lionel Messi scored twice as Argentina booked their place at the World Cup with a 5-2 thrashing of Paraguay.
Argentina captain Messi struck a penalty in each half as the South American giants made sure of their place at next year's finals in Brazil in emphatic fashion.
The Argentines - missing four of their first-choice XI through suspension - had only needed a point in the Paraguayan capital to be certain of qualification.
But Alejandro Sabella's side demonstrated why they are likely to be regarded as one of the teams to beat in Brazil by tearing into the home team from the whistle.
"I dream of winning the World Cup. We all do in Argentina. But there is still a long way to go," Messi said.
"We got what we wanted, but it was difficult to play here. The most important thing was to qualify as soon as possible.
"We want to continue like this and we want to keep winning."

Messi fired them ahead from the penalty spot on 12 minutes only for Paraguay to equalise through Jose Nunez six minutes later. Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero restored Argentina's lead on 32 minutes, Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria extended their lead soon after half-time and Messi blasted in his second penalty to make it 4-1.
Paraguay veteran Roque Santa Cruz struck a late consolation goal, but Maxi Rodriguez hit back for Argentina in the dying minutes.
Elsewhere, Colombia missed their chance to clinch qualification after crashing 2-0 to Uruguay in Montevideo.
Colombia remain firmly on course to qualify, however, requiring only a point from their final two fixtures to reach Brazil.
Uruguay (22 points) could still be mathematically overhauled by sixth-placed Venezuela (19 points), who kept their faint hopes alive with a 3-2 win over Peru, but it would require an unlikely sequence of results for the Uruguayans to be denied either automatic qualification or a play-off place against Asian minnows Jordan.


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Sport

Football

Lionel Messi scored twice as Argentina booked their place at the World Cup with a 5-2 thrashing of Paraguay. Argentina captain Messi struck a penalty in each half as the South American giants made sure of their place at next year's finals in Brazil in emphatic fashion.
