Lionel Messi passed Javier Mascherano as Argentina's most capped international on Monday and scored twice as they beat Bolivia 4-1 to set up a Copa America quarter-final against Ecuador.
Brazil hammered Bolivia 5-0 in World Cup qualifiers on Thursday, giving coach Tite his third successive win in the most convincing performance from the five-time world champions for some time. Bolivia had not won a World Cup qualifier away from home since 1993 but Brazil were still excellent, particularly in the first half, when they scored four of their five goals.
On Saturday evening, Lionel Messi finally got what had eluded arguably the finest footballer of his generation throughout his glorious career -- a trophy playing for his country.
A summary of Thursday's South American World Cup qualifiers.
Roberto Firmino had a goal chalked off late in the first half after the referee awarded a foul against the hosts, before substitute Gabriel Jesus found the net on the hour mark only for a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review to deem Firmino offside in the build-up. Brazil meet Peru in their final group game on Saturday with both sides needing only a draw to seal their place in the quarter-finals
The goal gave Argentina all three points and condemned their neighbors to a losing start to their Copa campaign.
Summary of the South American World Cup qualifiers played on Thursday
Some 12,000 torch bearers will carry the flame for the first Olympic Games held in South America. In Brasilia, they will include a refugee from the Syrian civil war, 12-year-old Hanan Daqqah, who arrived in Brazil with her family in 2015.
Photos from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers played on Tuesday
Renault Kwid could be the new frontrunner in the 1-litre car segment, says P Tharyan.
Beneath a street lamp in one of Rio de Janeiro's slums, 19-year-old boxer Wanderson de Oliveira does pull-ups from a metal bar outside the Fight for Peace academy while two skinny young boys watch intently. Much of the Complexo da Mar, a teeming neighborhood of 140,000 people near Rio's international airport, remains in the grip of drug gangs despite efforts to break their hold on the city's poor districts ahead of the August Olympic Games. Gang members brandishing automatic weapons inspect vehicles that enter Mar at a checkpoint, watchful for raids by rival crews or the police. Youths with machine guns patrol the streets or loll in plastic chairs at corner bars.
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