Football
Reuters 16y

WRAPUP 1-Soccer-Brazil in late goal spree as Argentina top group

By Brian Homewood

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 17 - Brazil scored four late
goals with a mixture of luck, brilliance and farce to complete
a 5-0 drubbing of Ecuador in a World Cup qualifier on
Wednesday.

Colombia played out their second goalless draw in three
days, away to Bolivia, and Chile and Paraguay won at home to
kick-start their campaigns in Wednesday's other South American
games.

Chile beat neighbours Peru 2-0 in Santiago and Paraguay
battled to a 1-0 win over Uruguay in Asuncion.

Argentina, 2-0 winners in Venezuela on Tuesday, were left
as the only side with a maximum six points from two games in
the single South American group.

Brazil and Paraguay have four each, followed by Uruguay,
Chile and Venezuela on three, Colombia on two, Peru and Bolivia
one and Ecuador on none.

Playing their first home game for two years and first at
the hallowed Maracana for seven, Brazil made heavy work of
Ecuador for the first 70 minutes when only Vagner Love's 19th-
minute goal separated the sides.

With Ecuador looking increasingly capable of snatching an
equaliser and the 70,000 crowd growing impatient, the game
suddenly lurched in Brazil's direction.

The goal glut begin with a fortuitous effort in the 73rd
minute when Ronaldinho appeared to turn Kaka's apparently
innocuous long-range effort into the goal.

HALF CLEARANCE

That was followed by two moments for brilliance, the first
from Kaka, who pounced on a half clearance and scored with a
curling 30-metre shot into the top right-hand corner.

The second was Robinho's disconcerting dribble which sent
him clear of Ulises de la Cruz to set up the fourth for
substitute Elano.

Two minutes later came the farce as Kaka's apparently
harmless 25-metre effort somehow slipped under Ecuador
goalkeeper Daniel Viteri and into the net.

"I didn't see the goal because I shot very weakly and I
turned my back," Kaka told Brazilian television.

The game was a far cry from events in La Paz where Bolivia
and Colombia played out a goalless stalemate at 12,600 metres
above sea level, leaving both teams without a gaol or win in
the group.

Bolivia had midfielder Leonel Reyes sent off in the 66th
minute.

Chile, beaten 2-0 by Argentina on Saturday, sank Peru with
goals early in each half from Humberto Suazo and Matias
Fernandez.

Mexico-based Suazo headed in from a corner and Villarreal's
Fernandez scored after a clever lofted pass from Arturo Vidal
sent him clear of the Peru defence.

"Today's was a convincing performance because it appears to
me that Chile were clearly superior to our opponents," Chile
coach Marcelo Bielsa said.

Paraguay's win over Uruguay in a typically hard-fought
match came courtesy of a close-range goal from Borussia
Dortmund's Nelson Haedo Valdez in the 15th minute after
Salvador Cabanas burst down the left.

"I think we're on the way to something important," said
Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino, whose team are attempting to
reach a fourth successive World Cup.

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