Staff Reporter.
Vinicius Junior celebrated a return to the Maracana stadium on Thursday with his first international goal for Brazil and a starring performance in their 4-0 thrashing of Chile.
The 21-year-old wide man played for Flamengo before sealing a transfer to Real Madrid and he excelled at his former home, taking advantage of a neat Neymar dummy to slot an angled shot past Claudio Bravo on the stroke of halftime.
The goal was wedged between penalties by Neymar and Philippe Coutinho and followed in stoppage time by a fourth goal from substitute Richarlison.
“At the Maracana with my family, there was nowhere better to score my first international goal,” he said. “I’m very happy.”
Sports news website Globoesporte said the player bought more than 100 tickets for friends and family.
“It’s our last game in Brazil before the World Cup and we are going to thank the fans,” he added. “Now we have to keep working hard and doing the right things to ensure we win the title at the end of the year.”
The victory was Brazil’s seventh in seven home qualifiers against Chile, who must now beat the already qualified Uruguay in their final match next Tuesday to have any hope of landing a World Cup playoff spot.
Meanwhile Giorgian de Arrascaeta sent Uruguay to the World Cup with the only goal of the game against Peru on Thursday, a result that also booked Ecuador’s ticket to Qatar, with a helping hand from Brazil.
Ecuador slumped to a 3-1 defeat in Paraguay but still qualified for a World Cup for the just the fourth time — all this century — thanks to Uruguay’s victory and already-qualified Brazil’s 4-0 win over Chile.
Nineteen teams have now qualified for the finals in Qatar later this year, with 13 spots still available.
With Argentina, who play Venezuela on Friday, also already qualified, Peru and Chile will now vie for the fifth-place intercontinental play-off spot from the single South American qualification group alongside Colombia, who emphatically ended a seven-match goalless streak with a 3-0 win over Bolivia.