Brazil move closer to World Cup qualification with easy win over Peru
Victorious in five consecutive games against Peru across all competitions that have seen their opponents fail to find the back of the net in any of the previous four, Brazil thought they had finally conceded in the 12th minute.
However, the officials came to the hosts’ rescue as they correctly deemed Edison Flores to have strayed beyond the shoulder of the last defender before he slotted the ball past Ederson.
In response, the in-form figure of Raphinha – who has six goals in his previous nine starts for the Selecao – left a permanent imprint of the ball on the crossbar with a fiercely-struck strike from inside of the area as the game approached the half-hour mark.
However, there was nothing to prevent the Barcelona man from firing Dorival Junior’s side ahead from the penalty spot in the 38th minute. Carlos Zambrano’s helping hand in the area, following a tussle with Igor Jesus and teammate Luis Advincula, led to Raphina sending Pedro Gallese in the wrong direction, giving Brazil the lead going into the break.
With the criticism of Brazil manager Dorival Junior temporarily silenced after his side’s last-gasp victory over Chile on Friday, man-of-the-match Raphinha further reduced the pressure with a carbon copy of the game’s opening goal in the 54th minute.
Again, the Brazilian baller beat Gallese from 12 yards out after Zambrano failed to cover himself in glory for a second time by clumsily fouling Manchester City attacker Savinho.
Substitute Andreas Pereira added a stunning third goal for Brazil on 71 minutes as he produced a sensational overhead kick that flew past Gallese.
Peru’s forgettable evening continued no less than three minutes later with fellow second-half substitute Luiz Henrique building on his match-winner against Chile by getting on the scoresheet once again with an unstoppable finish courtesy of some criminal defending by the Blanquirroja backline.
A confident stroll on the pitch sees Brazil end the current cycle of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches four points above the final automatic qualification position.
Meanwhile, with only Chile below Peru in the CONMEBOL standings, the sole seventh-place inter-confederation play-off position now looks to be Jorge Fossati's side's best chance of reappearing at the World Cup after missing out in 2022.
