D-Day for Brazil

CAMPANA, Argentina (AP):

Having watched arch-rivals Argentina scrape through to the Copa America knock-out round, it's Brazil's turn to rebound from a difficult start and secure their own advancement.

Brazil face Ecuador in their final Group B match today needing a win or draw to stay alive in the South American championship. Host Argentina also were on the brink of elimination, but they beat Costa Rica 3-0 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals.

The Brazilians say they won't be worried about playing beautiful football.

"It's always good to play well, but the only thing we need right now is a result that will keep us in the tournament," striker Fred said. "We need to win, then we can start worrying about getting better and playing the type of football the fans like to watch."

Fred scored the 89th-minute equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Paraguay, allowing Brazil to enter the match in Cordoba in a better position to advance. Had they lost, the team's place in the second round would have depended on other results.

"It's a decisive game, we need to come through no matter what," goalkeeper Julio Cesar said. "I don't care how we are going to do it. It doesn't matter. If we win by half a goal, we will take it. We have to focus on our bigger goal."

Brazil struggled in the draws against Venezuela and Paraguay and their players are not expecting an easier match against Ecuador, which need a victory to have any chance of advancing to the second round.

Another difficult match

"We all know it's going to be another difficult match for us," striker Alexandre Pato said. "We have the responsibility to win and we will need to fight until the end to get the result we want."

Venezuela are the surprise leaders in Group B and have already secured a spot in the quarters with four points, two more than Brazil and Paraguay. Ecuador are last with one point. Paraguay and Venezuela will play in Salta today, with the Paraguayans needing a victory to lock a place in the next round.

The top two teams in each of the three groups advance, plus the best two third-place teams. Colombia also advanced from Group A along with Argentina. Chile and Peru also have guaranteed their place in the second stage.

Uruguay, another title favourite after reaching the World Cup semi-finals last year in South Africa, have to get past Mexico in their final group match to advance.

Brazil had a setback on Tuesday when defensive midfielder Sandro was forced to drop out of the squad after tests on his injured knee.

Brazil are trying to win their third straight Copa America. They beat Argentina in the last two finals - in 2004 in Peru and in 2007 in Venezuela.