A tearful Neymar on Thursday inspired hosts Brazil to become the first side to qualify for the Copa America knockout stages following a 4-0 win over Peru in Rio de Janeiro.
Goals from Alex Sandro, Neymar, Everton Ribeiro and Richarlison gave the holders a ninth straight win and a perfect six points from two games in Group B as Peru dropped to the bottom of the table.
There was little between the two sides in the first half, but Brazil’s greater quality made the difference after halftime, as talisman Neymar inspired them to an ultimately comfortable victory.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s emotional for me because many things happened in these past two years that were difficult, complicated,” Neymar said as the tears flowed.
Two years ago, he missed Brazil’s Copa triumph on home soil through injury and before that tournament began he was accused of rape, a case that was dismissed over a lack of evidence.
His 68th goal in 107 games for his nation took him to within nine of the record set by Pele.
“It’s an honor for me to be part of Brazil national team history. To be honest, my dream was always to play for the Selecao, to wear this jersey. I never imagined achieving these numbers,” he said.
Earlier in Group B, Venezuela held out under intense pressure in a fractious derby against Colombia to secure their first point at the Copa America after a 0-0 draw in Goiania.
Venezuela goalkeeper Wuilker Farinez made a string of fine saves, particularly in the closing stages, to keep out Colombia, who saw a late Miguel Borja goal ruled out for offside.
Colombia also finished the game with 10 men after Luis Diaz was sent off deep into stoppage-time.
Colombia finished the game with 23 shots to two — none on target — from Venezuela, but the Red Wine held out for a much needed point.
Venezuela were still severely depleted from a COVID-19 outbreak in their camp that deprived the team of eight players in their 3-0 defeat to hosts Brazil on Sunday.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
RSS