Vinicius Jr celebrates after scoring© AFP
Vinicius Junior struck a winner in the ninth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 win over Colombia in their South American World Cup qualifier on Thursday. The five-times world champions had taken a sixth-minute lead in Brasilia through a Raphinha penalty only for Luis Diaz’s fine 41st-minute strike for Colombia to level the game. Colombia enjoyed the most pressure in the second half but were ultimately sunk by the Real Madrid winger’s dramatic winner.The victory leaves Brazil well- positioned in second place in the 10-team CONMEBOL qualifying group, four points behind leaders Argentina who travel to Uruguay on Friday.
A foul from Daniel Munoz on Vinicius resulted in the early penalty for Brazil and Raphinha, taking a short run-up, confidently slotted home the spot-kick to give the home side an early lead.
But four minutes before the break, James Rodriguez found Liverpool’s Diaz on the left and the winger moved inside before driving it home into the far, bottom corner of the net.
Rodriguez had an opening in the 68th minute, after a smart move from Colombia, but the playmaker’s shot was comfortably dealt with by Alisson Becker.
Diaz’s Liverpool team-mate Becker had to go off injured in the 78th minute, with an apparent concussion, after a collision with Colombia’s Davinson Sanchez which resulted in the defender being stretchered off.
While Colombia enjoyed the bulk of attacking possession, Brazil remained a threat and Guilherme Arana flashed a shot wide in the 82nd minute.
The Alisson injury had created the lengthy stoppage time and Vinicius took advantage with his fiercely struck effort taking a slight deflection off a defender’s head and flying in.
In other South American qualifiers on Thursday, Paraguay beat bottom-placed Chile 1-0 in Asuncion, a result that left La Roja rooted to the bottom of the table.
Peru were playing Bolivia later on Thursday.
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