Neymar saves Brazil at Copa
BRAZIL captain Neymar scored once and set up an injury-time winner when the five-time world champions scraped a 2-1 win over Peru on Sunday after Colombia suffered a shock defeat to Venezuela.
Neymar headed in a fifth-minute equaliser before creating a goal for teammate Douglas Costa deep into stoppage time to seal Brazil’s 11th consecutive victory since last year’s World Cup.
With his strike, Neymar reached 44 international goals at the age of 23, a year earlier than Brazilian legend Pele. “I want to keep on reaching records, with goals, assists and everything that can help the team to win,” Neymar said.
The Copa America encounter’s man of the match, was at the centre of the action throughout the game, even getting a bizarre yellow card for pushing aside the foam the referee had sprayed on the pitch to show where a free kick should be taken.
“Neymar was again decisive,” Brazil coach Dunga said after the match. “He has played three finals in Spain [with Barcelona], and has had a long season. But he comes here and takes charge.”
Peru, who took the lead after only three minutes when Christian Cueva punished a defensive blunder by David Luiz, looked to have done enough to secure a share of the Group C points.
But with the final whistle looming, Neymar advanced menacingly down the left flank and threaded a pass through a forest of bodies for unmarked Shakhtar Donetsk striker Douglas Costa.
Costa made no mistake, calmly placing his shot beyond the despairing dive of Pedro Gallese.
While Brazil can start planning for the knockout rounds, Group C rivals Colombia must regroup after their upset defeat to Venezuela.
A second-half goal from Salomon Rondon settled a hard-fought encounter as the highly-rated Colombians struggled to break down the Venezuelans.
Despite a starting lineup packed with stars, including James Rodriguez from Real Madrid, Manchester United’s Radamel Falcao and Chelsea’s Juan Cuadrado, Colombia could not impose their attacking style on the contest.
Colombia take on Brazil tomorrow.