Group C – Match 2 (June 14, 2015)
Estadio Municipal Germán Becker, Temuco, Chile
Neymar led the Brazil to an unconvincing win over Peru, with an early goal and an assist to a late goal by Douglas Costa, who had come on as a substitute. The initial performance by the Brazilians seemed to remind us of their 7-1 demolition by Germany in the World Cup. But they somehow managed to scrap out a win from this match, which denied the Peruvians a valuable point.
Peru opened the scoring, when David Luiz made a lazy back-pass to goalkeeper Jefferson, who was poorly positioned and did not expect to receive the ball from Luiz. Jefferson tried to clear the ball, but it landed straight on Cristian Cueva’s feet, who bundled it in, as Dunga watched in horror. His nightmare seemed to be over soon, when Dani Alves ran down the left-wing and found Neymar unmarked. The Brazilian skipper equalised from the free-header, scoring his 44th goal in 64 matches for Brazil. He had a chance to score another goal with a direct free-kick right before half-time, but the ball flew too high and the 1st half ended 1-1.
The 2nd half remained scrappy, until Douglas Costa came on for Diego Tardelli five minutes after the hour-mark. Neymar created a good chance for Costa to score in the 75th minute following a fast break, but his left-footed shot missed the goal. In stoppage time, Neymar found Costa in a good position again. Unmarked, Costa coolly slotted in the winner.
Jefferson Farfán was clearly disappointed with the final result. He said, “We had a chance to at least get a draw but it didn’t happen.” Douglas Costa said regarding his late goal, “It was an important goal. It was a perfect pass from Neymar and I was able to control the ball and get a shot on goal.”
In the other match of Group C, Venezuela claimed a vital 1-0 win over Colombia, with a solo goal by Jose Salomon Rondon. The Brazilians will now face Colombia on Wednesday, June 17, while Venezuela will play against Peru.
Next Match:
Group A Match 3: Ecuador vs Bolivia (live at Sony Kix from 02:30 IST)
Group A Match 3: Chile vs Mexico (live at Sony Kix from 04:45 IST)