Peru beats Paraguay, qualifies for World Cup playoffs

Sao Paulo, March 30 (BNA): Peru beat Paraguay 2-0 today, Tuesday, in the final round of South American qualifiers for the World Cup, to secure fifth place in the standings and enter the intercontinental playoff for a place in Qatar.

Gianluca Lapadola opened the scoring in Lima in the fifth minute and Yoshimar Yotin scored in the 42nd, according to the Associated Press.

The Peruvians needed a win to qualify regardless of the results of Colombia and Chile. They finished the 10-team league competition with 24 points, one point ahead of the Colombians.

The intercontinental playoff in June will be against Australia or the United Arab Emirates, the two teams vying for fifth place in the Asian qualifiers.

Peru also finished fifth in the South American qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, and advanced to the finals by defeating New Zealand.

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador have already guaranteed four direct participations in South America for Qatar.

Also on Tuesday, Brazil achieved a historic feat with a 4-0 victory over Bolivia. With 45 competing points, Tite’s team broke Argentina’s record of 43 in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. This result in their unbeaten qualifying campaign is expected to lift Brazil to first place in the upcoming FIFA rankings.

Brazil played without the comment of Neymar and Vinicius Junior, and scored two goals from Richarlison and another from Lucas Paqueta and Bruno Guimarães.

FIFA wants Brazil and Argentina to go ahead with their suspended clash, which was halted in the first minutes on September 6 due to COVID-19 protocols. Football executives in both countries are negotiating a date for the match in June.

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Peru 2, Paraguay 0

Local fans crowding the Estadio Nacional in Lima were expecting a tough showdown against a Paraguayan team that historically knows how to defend.

But Lapadula’s early opener quickly calmed the mood. He received Loeb’s pass from Christian Cueva and gently passed the ball past goalkeeper Anthony Silva.

Just three minutes later, Sebastian Ferreira of Paraguay almost took advantage of a defensive error from Peru, but his shot hit the crossbar Pedro Galeese.

Peru then dominated and missed several chances before Cueva along with Edison Flores. He found a cross by Yoten, who finished with a low shot to defeat Silva.

Bolivia 0, Brazil 4

Non-Bolivian players in South American qualifiers often fear matches at the height of La Paz. Brazil coach Tite was heavily criticized before the match for describing conditions at more than 3,600 meters (about 12,000) feet above sea level as “inhuman”.

However, Tite continued to experiment with his squad, substituting seven players who started in the 4-0 win over Chile last week.

Right-back Danilo, defender Thiago Silva, left-back Guilherme Arana, midfielders Casemiro and Fred as well as suspended Neymar and Vinicius Junior Tite have all been eliminated and have been replaced by Dani Alves, Eder Militao, Alex Telles, Fabinho, Bruno Guimaraes and Philippe Coutinho. Richarlison.

This formation never played together, but Brazil kept their cool and found their first goal after an attack from Guimarães ended with a decisive pass to Paqueta, who easily put the ball into the net.

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With the first half over, Brazil found its second as Anthony found Richarlison’s low cross without any control to score.

Bolivia forced goalkeeper Alisson to make some important saves in the second half, but Guimarães’ goal in the 66th minute with a pass from Paqueta missed any chances for the hosts to turn the game around. Richarlison scored his second goal from close range before the end of the match.

In other results, Colombia beat Venezuela 1-0, and James Rodriguez scored the only goal from a penalty kick in stoppage time in the first half.

Chile lost to Uruguay 2-0 at home, a result that ended their chances and propelled Uruguay to third place. Luis Suarez scored the first goal in the 79th minute and Federico Valverde added the second goal shortly before the final whistle.

Ecuador fell to fourth place after its 1-1 draw with Argentina. Julian Alvarez opened the scoring in his first 24th goal for Argentina. But Iner Valencia equalized in injury time.






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