AFP, Montevideo :
Gabriel Barbosa’s penalty five minutes from time maintained Brazil’s perfect start to South American World Cup qualifying with a come from behind 3-1 win over Venezuela on Thursday.
It was a ninth win from nine for the Selecao and extended their lead in the single South American qualifying group to eight points over unbeaten Argentina, who drew 0-0 in Paraguay.
Eric Ramirez’s early goal gave Venezuela a shock lead in Caracas but Marquinhos equalized with a header before Barbosa’s late penalty.
Substitute Antony rubbed salt into unlucky Venezuela’s wounds five minutes into injury time to leave the hosts rooted to the bottom of the table.
“It was a tough game, we started off well below our level,” admitted Marquinhos.
“It was our second half performance that got us the positive result we wanted.”
Shorn of the suspended Neymar, Brazil clearly missed his spark, dominating possession but creating little until their late rally.
Venezuela took a shock lead on 11 minutes when Yeferson Soteldo stood up a cross into the box and Ramiurez rose unmarked to head into the far corner as two Brazilian defenders in close attendance slipped.
Brazil were almost level halfway through the first period but Everton Ribeiro’s attempted cross deflected off Nathuel Ferraresi and onto the bar, before the defender cleared the ball to safety.
Brazil had the ball in the net on 56 minutes but it was chalked off for a foul by Thiago Silva.
Marquinhos rose to head home debutant substitute Raphinha’s corner 19 minutes from time, although Venezuela’s goalkeeper Joel Graterol should have done better but seemed to be deceived by the ball bouncing in front of him.
And the turnaround was complete when Oscar Gonzalez tripped Barbosa in the box, with the striker calmly slotting the resulting spot kick down the middle of the goal.
Leeds United’s Raphinha rounded off an impressive debut with a second assist for Antony to tap home from six yards with almost the last kick of the match.
A three-goal five-minute blitz gave Ecuador a 3-0 win over Bolivia in Guayaquil.
Michael Estrada opened the scoring before an Enner Valencia brace put the game to bed inside 20 minutes and sent Ecuador up to third.
In Montevideo, Uruguay dominated Colombia but had to settle for a scoreless draw that left them fourth and fifth, battling for the last automatic qualification spot.
Luis Suarez had a goal ruled out for a narrow offside and also missed a sitter, opening his foot too far when trying to curl the ball into the far corner.
Goals from Christian Cueva and Sergio Pena gave Peru a 2-0 win over Chile in Lima.
