Brazil thrashed Uruguay with Neymar goal, Raphinha double

Raphinha put up yet another impressive performance for Brazil on Thursday, scoring twice in a 4-1 win over Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier.

After 10 minutes, Neymar chested down a pass from Fred and around the keeper before hitting low between two defenders on the goal-line to give Brazil the lead.

Raphinha made it 2-0 after 18 minutes when he bundled in a parried close-range attempt, and then made it 3-0 after 58 minutes with an angled goal to complete a brilliant counter-attack.

Luis Suarez scored a consolation goal for Uruguay with a free kick in the 77th minute, but Gabriel Barbosa restored Brazil's three-goal lead with a header seven minutes later.

"This couldn't be more memorable for me," Raphinha stated. "I'm living out a childhood fantasy." It's really satisfying to get a goal.

"It's going to be very difficult to forget this night."

Neymar and Raphinha both had chances to score more, but Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera denied both of them in quick succession early in the second half.

That’s how you celebrate 70 international goals 🕺 pic.twitter.com/D500c1kI5G

— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 15, 2021

Muslera was Uruguay's best player on a bad night for the visitors, who have now won only two of their last nine qualifiers, demonstrating Brazil's domination.

Brazil now leads the South American qualification group by six points, ahead of Argentina, who beat Peru 1-0 on Thursday.

The top four teams qualify for Qatar 2022 automatically, while the fifth-placed team competes in an inter-regional playoff.

On the same day, Chile defeated Venezuela 3-0 for their second win in a row. Erick Pulgar scored twice in the first half, both off assists from Alexis Sanchez, and Ben Brereton made it 3-0 with 17 minutes left to put Chile in sixth place with 13 points.

Venezuela is bottom of the group with seven points, four behind Peru, having lost nine of their 12 qualifiers.