Brazil stunned by Venezuelan overhead kick; Argentina remain perfect | OneFootball

Round three of CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers took place on Friday evening across South America. Here is what went down across the grounds.

Brazil vs Venezuela

Scorers: Gabriel 50′ ; Bello 85′

Brazil struggled to breakdown a resolute Venezuela rearguard in the first half, despite seeing over 75% of the possession on home soil.

It took until the second half for the hosts to finally pick the lock, as a superb Neymar corner was headed home by Gabriel Magalhães to snatch a deserved lead for Brazil.

Brazil appeared to find separation when Vinicius Junior found the back of the net on the break, but the goal was chalked off after a Neymar foul in the box, keeping Venezuela within one goal from parity.

The visitors failed would take advantage of their second chance after all, as Eduard Bello came off the Venezuelan bench to stun the home crowd with a sensational overhead kick and level the scoreline in the final five minutes to snatch a point.

The home draw sees Brazil drop points for the first time in the qualifying campaign.

Argentina vs Paraguay

Scorers: Otamendi 3′

An early strike was all Argentina needed to comfortably down Paraguay and remain perfect in qualifying so far.

Lionel Messi started the game on the bench, but it was no problem for the world champions as they snatched the lead in the first three minutes through the unlikely source of Nicolás Otamendi.

The hosts perhaps should have found the second before the break when Julián Álvarez picked out strike partner Lautaro Martínez inside the box, but the Inter man’s strike was deflected just wide to keep Paraguay in the tie.

Messi joined the fray in the second half, looking to leave a mark on the qualifier after a lengthy injury absence for Inter Miami, but the veteran forward failed to make a major impact.

Nonetheless, Argentina coasted to the full-time whistle to collect their third win from three games to kick off their qualifying campaign.

Other Results

Colombia 2-2 Uruguay

Bolivia 1-2 Ecuador

Chile 2-0 Peru