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IMAGE: Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring against Paraguay in the Copa America Cup match at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, on Friday. Photograph: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
Vinicius Junior scored twice in Brazil’s 4-1 Copa America victory over Paraguay in a Group D clash in Nevada on Friday, bouncing back from a lacklustre display in his first game of the tournament.
Colombia, who have qualified for the quarter-finals, top Group D with six points after two matches, with Brazil in second on four points.
Costa Rica are third with one point and Paraguay, who are bottom with zero after two defeats, have been eliminated from the competition.
From the whistle, Vinicius’ pace and trickery posed a constant threat to Paraguay down the left flank, a far cry from his performance in Brazil’s 0-0 draw with Costa Rica in their opening group stage match, in which he was largely ineffectual.
Despite Brazil’s strong start, it was Paraguay who almost went ahead in the 15th minute as Damian Bobadilla’s goal-bound effort took a massive deflection off Eder Militao and nearly wrongfooted Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who showed quick reflexes to keep out the strike.
Brazil earned a 28th-minute penalty for a handball, which was fired wide by Lucas Paqueta, but the midfielder made up for his miss seven minutes later as he set up Vinicius with a first-time pass to cap off a flowing team move.
Girona winger Savio doubled Brazil’s advantage after pouncing on a rebound inside the box, before Vinicius stuck out a boot to divert a clearance from Omar Alderete into the net for his second goal of the night in first half stoppage time.
Paraguay got a goal back after the break as Alderete netted a superb long-range, but any hopes of a comeback were swiftly dashed when Brazil were awarded a penalty in the 68th minute after a handball by Mathias Villasanti.
Despite his earlier miss, Paqueta stepped up and made no mistake at the second time of asking to send Brazil’s fans at the Allegiant Stadium into delirium.
Towards the end of the match, tempers flared and Andres Cubas was shown a red card after kicking out at Douglas Luiz, with Brazil using their man’s advantage to comfortably see out the game and clinch the three points.
Brazil next face group leaders Colombia in California on Tuesday, where a draw would be enough to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Costa Rica face Paraguay in Texas.
Colombia breeze past Costa Rica to make knock-outs
IMAGE: Colombia defender Davinson Sanchez (No. 23) celebrates scoring against Costa Rica at the State Farm Stadium. Photograph: Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
Colombia cruised to a 3-0 win over Costa Rica in Group D and booked their spot in the Copa America quarter-finals thanks to strikes from Luis Diaz, Davinson Sanchez and Jhon Cordoba.
Colombia top their group with six points after two matches, ahead of Costa Rica and Brazil, who have one point each.
‘Los Cafeteros’, who will finish the evening first in the group regardless of the later result, sealed a tenth consecutive victory and 25th match without defeat as they pursue their first Copa America title since 2001.
Despite the loss, Costa Rica, who have one point, are still in the running, but they need to secure a win in their final match against Paraguay and hope for other results to go their way.
Colombia started the match well and took the lead in the 31st minute through Liverpool winger Diaz, who confidently converted from the penalty spot after Costa Rica goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira bundled over Cordoba in the box.
As Costa Rica pressed for an equaliser they left themselves open on the break and Colombia made them pay, with Sanchez outmuscling defender Juan Pablo Vargas to head Jhon Arias’ corner past Sequeira from close range in the 59th minute.
After scoring, Sanchez held up the jersey of team mate Jhon Lucumi, who missed the match due to an injury.
Cordoba rounded out the scoring three minutes later after timing his run perfectly to stay onside and latch onto James Rodriguez’s long ball before calmly slotting his finish past Sequeira.
