BRASILIA/CAPE TOWN:
A last-gasp Vinicius Jr strike earned Brazil a hard-fought 2-1 win over Colombia in the South American World Cup qualifiers on Thursday.
Vinicius scored the winner nine minutes into added time to rescue a much-needed win for Brazil who appeared destined for a third consecutive 1-1 draw after a Luis Diaz canceled out Raphinha’s early opener for the hosts in capital Brasilia.
The victory lifted Brazil to second in South American qualifying with 21 points, four behind leaders Argentina and one ahead of Uruguay in third, both of whom have a game in hand and will clash on Friday.
The top six qualify directly for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the seventh place offering passage via further rounds of qualifiers.
The five-time World Cup champions started strong and grabbed the lead within six minutes through a Raphinha penalty after Vinicius Jr was fouled inside the box by Daniel Munoz.
But Brazil hit a wall after that and other than an angled strike from Rodrygo that sailed wide of the post in the 13th minute, they couldn’t create any real scoring opportunities.
They were also exposed to regular counterattacks with Colombia constantly threatening goalkeeper Alisson’s box.
In the 40th minute, James Rodriguez pounced on a lapse in concentration from Newcastle midfielder Joelinton, taking possession on the edge of the box and finding Diaz who fired into the bottom right corner to equalise.
Brazil came back livelier after the break and Vinicius Jr forced a fine save from Camilo Vargas with an early strike for inside the box.
But the pressure to find a goal appeared to take the wind out of their sails and as they wasted one chance after another, manager Dorival Jr, who took the job a year ago, grew increasingly forlorn on the sidelines.
His despair turned to joy in the dying moments when Vinicius unleashed a curling strike from the edge of the box that evaded Vargas’ and found the back of the net.
Brazil will now travel to face old rivals Argentina on Tuesday in a game where they will be without Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, both suspended after receiving yellow cards against Colombia.
Benin, Cape Verde, Gabon, Mozambique top African WC qualifying groups
Benin, the Cape Verde Islands, Gabon and Mozambique made up a quartet of unfancied sides who took over at the top of their World Cup qualifying groups on Thursday as the African preliminaries for the 2026 finals neared the halfway mark.
Cape Verde lead Group D after Yannick Semedo’s late goal gave them a 1-0 home win over Mauritius, with 10 points to Cameroon’s nine.
Two goalkeeping errors from Ismail Watenga plus the first- half sending off of Denis Omedi enabled Mozambique to post a comfortable a 3-1 win over Uganda in Cairo and take top place in Group G.
Mozambique, with four victories from five matches, have a three-point advantage over group favourites Algeria, who play Botswana away on Friday.
Benin let slip a two-goal lead against Zimbabwe but moved top of Group C, with nearest challengers Rwanda and South Africa both playing on Friday.