Brazilian star Raphinha delivered another stunning performance, scoring two goals to lead Brazil to a crushing 4-1 victory over Uruguay in the World Cup qualifiers last night. Brazil took the lead after just 10 minutes when Neymar received a pass from Fred, controlled it with his chest, dribbled past the goalkeeper, and shot the ball between two defenders on the goal line. Raphinha doubled Brazil's lead in the 18th minute by following up on a rebound from the goalkeeper, and he added a third goal from a counter-attack in the second half. Luis Suárez reduced the gap in the 77th minute, but six minutes later, Gabriel Barbosa restored Brazil's three-goal lead, concluding the match with a score of 4-1. Raphinha stated, "I am fulfilling my childhood dream. It is a pleasure to score goals with Brazil... It will be hard to forget this night." Neymar and Raphinha could have scored more, but goalkeeper Fernando Muslera saved two chances early in the second half. Muslera's performance exemplified Uruguay's struggles, having won only two of their last nine qualifiers, where he was his team's best player. Brazil leads the qualifiers, six points ahead of Argentina, which narrowly defeated Peru 1-0.
### Difficult Win for Argentina
In Buenos Aires, Peru missed a penalty in the second half, losing 1-0 to the host Argentina in the South American World Cup qualifiers. Lautaro Martínez scored three minutes before half-time, giving Argentina the lead. Peru had a chance to equalize when the referee awarded a penalty to substitute Jefferson Farfán in the 64th minute after he attempted to dribble past goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, but Yoshimar Yotún sent the ball over the bar, marking Peru's seventh loss in 12 matches. Coach Lionel Scaloni's team increased their points to 25, six points behind Brazil, which won against Uruguay and raised their total to 31 points. The referee disallowed a goal from Argentina's Cristian Romero for offside after 10 minutes, and his teammate Ángel Di María missed two chances. Another Argentina goal by Guido Rodríguez was ruled out just two minutes before the end.
### Other Results
Earlier, Bolivia claimed their second consecutive victory by defeating Paraguay 4-0, keeping their hopes of reaching the finals for the first time since 1994 alive. Rodrigo Ramallo, Moisés Villarroel, Víctor Abrego, and Roberto Fernández scored for Bolivia, which now has 12 points, the same as Paraguay, which missed a penalty while trailing 1-0. Ecuador remained in third place with 17 points after drawing 0-0 in Colombia, who trails by one point in fourth place. The referee disallowed a Colombia goal by Yerry Mina in the last play of the match due to a handball. Chile won 3-0 against Venezuela to secure their second consecutive victory. Eric Pulgar scored two goals in the first half with assists from Alexis Sánchez, and Ben Brereton concluded Chile's scoring 17 minutes from the end, raising their total to 13 points in sixth place. Venezuela, which lost nine of their 12 qualifying matches, sits at the bottom of the table with seven points, four points behind Peru.
