Brazil’s Vinicius Jr scored twice in his side’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 in the group stage for only the second time since 2001.

This victory marked Brazil’s first win in six competitive matches and their maiden competitive win under the management of Dorival Jr, who took charge of the team in January.

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.

“In particular the first half, up to the 40 minutes, it was very even,” Paraguay coach Daniel Garnero told reporters.

“I think we created some opportunities. Unfortunately, in the three minutes we got a bit distracted and they scored two goals that made a great difference in the result. And Vinicius is an elite player, no doubt about it.”

Brazil next face group leaders Colombia in California on Tuesday, where a draw would be enough to secure qualification for the quarter-finals.

Paraguay face Costa Rica, who retain a slim chance of progressing to the quarter-finals, in Texas.

-Reuters

Brazil missed a string of chances and were left to rue a lack of quality in the final third after they were held 0-0 by Costa Rica in their Copa America Group D opener in Los Angeles on Monday.

Brazil, who came into the Copa America on the back of a run of poor results in recent months, dominated possession but lacked precision in front of goal with just three of their 19 shots on target.

“Now it’s about being honest with ourselves, creating alternatives to create chances, scoring, results are important in this competition, points left at the beginning can complicate things at the end,” Brazil defender Marquinhos said.

They were frustrated by a resolute five-man Costa Rican defence, who looked to contain their opponents and deprive them of space. The strategy paid dividends even if Gustavo Alfaro’s side rode their luck at times.

Alfaro said Costa Rica had been written off before the match had even started.

“We were Bruce Willis in ‘The Sixth Sense,’ where the only one that did not know he was dead was him, right?” he said through an interpreter.

“Well, everyone thought we were dead before the movie started in our case.”

Raphinha had an excellent early opportunity to score after latching onto a long ball over the top from Rodrygo, but Costa Rica keeper Patrick Sequeira came quickly off his line to snuff out the danger.

Brazil thought they had got the breakthrough in the 30th minute when a free kick was flicked on by Rodrygo into the path of Marquinhos, who poked it in at the far post but the goal was disallowed for offside after a lengthy VAR delay.

The one-way traffic continued after the break and Lucas Paqueta rattled the woodwork with a long-range effort in the 63rd minute before a venomous Guilherme Arana strike was kept out by a fine save from Sequeira.

Coach Dorival Junior brought on youngsters Endrick and Savio in the 70th minute as Brazil desperately sought a winner but Paqueta twice shot wide in the final 10 minutes as the nine-times champions failed to break the deadlock.

“We played a great game, we fought until the end, I had three chances myself, we were frustrated not to win, but we left with confidence, we fought,” Paqueta said.

“We played our game, we have to improve our finishing, myself in particular and other players, so that we can win.”

Brazil’s all-time leading scorer Neymar, who has been sidelined by an anterior cruciate ligament injury, cut a dejected figure as he looked on from the stands.

Costa Rica, who had lost three times to Brazil at the World Cup and twice more in previous Copa America encounters, had only two shots during Monday’s game with none on target but held on to claim what could prove a valuable point in their campaign in the United States.

Colombia lead Group D following their 2-1 win over Paraguay earlier on Monday.

-Reuters

European Championship winners Italy will face Copa America winners Argentina in June 2022, the soccer governing bodies of Europe and South America said on Tuesday.

“The agreement reached by the two organisations currently covers three editions of this match between the respective continental winners,” UEFA said in a statement.

No venue or competition title name was given for the match but a source told Reuters the game has been given the working title of the ‘Finalissima’.

The announcement comes after both European governing body UEFA and their South American counterparts CONMEBOL came out strongly against FIFA’s plans for a biennial World Cup.

The matches form part of what UEFA called an “expansion of the cooperation” between the two organisations.

“The organising of this match is part of the expansion of the cooperation between UEFA and CONMEBOL, which notably includes women’s football, futsal and youth categories, the exchange of referees, as well as technical training schemes,” UEFA said.

There was no mention of FIFA, who organise international competitions between different confederations at various age-groups as well as in the form of the World Cup.

UEFA also announced they were setting up a joint office with CONMEBOL in London, which will be in charge of coordinating “projects of common interest”.

Earlier this month, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin warned of a potential European boycott of the World Cup if FIFA’s plans to stage the tournament every two years go ahead.

World soccer’s governing body is carrying out a review of the international match calendar, led by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who is proposing a major tournament every year.

Under the proposals the World Cup would rotate with continental tournaments such as the European Championship and be played every second year instead of every fourth.

“We can decide not to play in it,” Ceferin told the Times newspaper.

“As far as I know, the South Americans are on the same page. So good luck with a World Cup like that.”