FIRMINO’S ON TARGET TO CRASH VEN PARTY
ROBERTO FIRMINO stole the show for Brazil with a second-half winner against a resilient Venezuela side in Sao Paulo.
The five-time World Cup winners struggled from the start but Liverpool star Firmino showed his class to make it three wins from three in their bid for World Cup 2022 qualification.
Richarlison thought he had put Brazil ahead in the seventh minute, only for the goal to be chalked off for offside.
And the same player’s foul on the keeper caused an effort from Douglas Luiz to be ruled out five minutes before half-time.
But the crucial strike eventually came from Firmino in the 70th minute when he was well placed to force the ball home from close range.
Venezuela were left kicking themselves for throwing away the chance of a point.
Midfielder Luis Mago said: “We were able to compete and do them damage for a while.
“We made one mistake and paid the price for it.”
The result leaves the samba stars top of the South American qualifying group while Venezuela – the only one of the 10 South American teams yet to score a goal – languish joint second bottom with Peru.
The top four sides in the group automatically qualify for the finals in Qatar with the fifthplaced team going into an inter-regional play-off.
Brazil’s next game is away to Uruguay on Tuesday while Venezuela are at home to Chile.
Earlier in the night, Chile beat Peru 2-0 thanks to a double from Inter Milan’s Arturo Vidal.
The midfielder struck twice in the first half – the first a glorious shot into the top corner – to leave Peru with just one point.
Chile, who missed out on Russia in 2018, are in sixth with four points.