The Hindu : Sport / Football : Brazil advances to quarterfinals

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Friday, Jul 06, 2007
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Brazil advances to quarterfinals

Robinho slots one in off a disputed penalty

BARQUISIMETO (Venezuela): Brazil’s 1-0 victory over Ecuador and Chile’s scoreless draw with already qualified Mexico were enough for both teams to advance to the Copa America quarterfinals on Wednesday.

A disputed Robinho penalty in the 56th minute was the only spark in Brazil’s victory over Ecuador, which goes home winless despite bringing an experienced squad that qualified for the past two World Cups.

With the victory, Brazil was placed second in Group B, one point behind Mexico.

But heading into the quarterfinal against Chile, which it beat 3-0 in their group game, the five-time World Cup champion continues to struggle offensively, having scored only two goals from open play in three matches.

Scoreless draw

After routing Brazil and Ecuador, Mexico settled for a scoreless draw against Chile.

The “Tri” came to Venezuela heavily bandaged after losing the CONACAF Gold Cup finals 2-1 against the United States.

But despite missing several regular starters due to injuries, including all-time leading scorer Jared Borgetti, Mexico has been among the fiercest attacking teams in the tournament.

It now must await the outcome of the Paraguay-Argentina decider to determine its quarterfinal opponent, but head coach Hugo Sanchez is pounding his chest.

“Whether it is Paraguay or Argentina, I’m sure neither wants to play against Mexico,” he said on Wednesday.

Joining Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina in the final eight are Venezuela, Peru and Uruguay.

Argentina is expected to rest several starters against Paraguay, but with a bench full of European stars anxious to see action, they will not be significantly weakened.

In their previous two group matches, Paraguay and Argentina each racked up a tournament-high eight goals.

Paraguay forwards Roque Santa Cruz and Salvador Cabanas hope to add a fourth goal to keep up with Robinho, who is the tournament’s top scorer.

Playing for pride

The United States and Colombia will be playing for pride after both winless teams were knocked out by the qualification of Brazil and Chile.

The Americans have a 3-8-3 record against the Colombians, with their biggest victory coming in the 1994 World Cup.

On Wednesday, a high-ranking CONMEBOL official criticised the Americans for not bringing its top squad to the oldest international soccer tournament.

Coming off the Gold Cup championship win over Mexico, head coach Bob Bradley brought a mostly inexperienced squad to Venezuela to give a rest to MLS and European-based starters like Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley. — AP

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