Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Feb. 2 (BNA): Brazil scored two goals in the last four minutes, the second being the first international goal for Real Madrid striker Rodrygo, to culminate in a comfortable 4-0 victory over Paraguay in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday in Belo. Horizonte.
The defeat ended Paraguay’s hopes of qualifying for Qatar and cemented Brazil’s standing as one of the favorites to win the title in December, Reuters reported.
Brazil leads the South American qualifiers group unbeaten in 15 matches, and the victory extended to 61 matches, which was unbeaten at home in the World Cup qualifiers.
Paraguay, which has yet to win any of its first five matches under coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto, is second in the bottom of the 10-team group with 13 points from 16 matches.
It was a successful but frustrating night for Ravenha, who scored a goal, beat another, and hit the post as well.
The Leeds United winger thought he put Brazil 1-0 ahead after just 93 seconds to disallow the goal after a lengthy consultation with the VAR.
However, with 28 minutes to go, he superbly controlled a long ball from Marquinhos and swayed between two defenders to put Brazil 1-0 ahead.
He wasn’t lucky because he didn’t score again at the start of the second half, but saw his shot bouncing off the post.
Philippe Coutinho earned a well-deserved second after an hour with a superb shot into the top corner of the net from 30 metres.
Anthony made the scoring even more reflective of the match four minutes before the end of the match when he slashed a left-footed shot past a defenseless goalkeeper.
Rodrygo returned to the net after one minute to conclude with a strong performance from the five-time world champions.
Vinicius Jenner, Matthews Cunha, and Lucas Paqueta also came close to Brazil, who, with their qualification already guaranteed, presented a much-changing squad.
Striker Neymar is out due to injury and there were rare starts for goalkeeper Ederson, midfielder Fabinho, left back Alex Telles and captain Dani Alves last night.
Bruno Guimarães, who joined Newcastle, appeared as a substitute in the second half.