Porto Alegre, Brazil -- Brazil improved its chances of remaining the only nation to have played in every World Cup by beating Paraguay 2-0 Wednesday night.

With elimination staring Brazil in the face, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari closed practices to the press and named his list of starters just 30 minutes prior to Wednesday's opening whistle.

Brazil's Roque Junior (right) tries to get past Paraguay's Jose Cardozo.(AP)

The current Brazilian squad, under intense pressure not to become "the" national team that failed to qualify for any World Cup, jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 5th minute on Marcelinho Paraiba's first goal while wearing the yellow national jersey.

Despite the early lead, Brazil never dominated the match, and Paraguay had several good scoring opportunities in the opening minutes of the second half.

German referee Helmut Krug apparently missed a hands penalty by Rivaldo during one of Paraguay's forays deep into Brazilian territory.

In addition, Paraguay complained that Rivaldo was offsides when his 70th-minute header put Brazil up 2-0.

Brazil got additional help Tuesday when tournament weakling Venezuela upset Uruguay 2-0.

The win was Venezuela's second in South American qualifying action, while Uruguay, previously tied with Brazil for fourth place, fell three points behind Brazil into fifth place.

Also on Wednesday, Argentina beat Ecuador 2-0 to become the first South American team to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea.

Paraguay and Ecuador are in second and third place, respectively, with 26 points each.

Up next for Brazil is a trip to Buenos Aires to take on tournament leader Argentina.

Brazil won the first meeting 3-1.

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