Brazil beat Peru with Raphinha’s ‘double’

Brazil beat 4-0 this Tuesday Peru with two penalty goals Raphinha and scores from Andreas Pereira and Luiz Henrique, a result that cemented him in fourth place in the 2026 World Cup qualifying classification, where he breathed a sigh of relief after being on the edge of the red zone. Canarinha, who completely dominated the match and finally convinced, equaled Uruguay with 16 points, remaining third due to the best goal balance, and remaining six behind the leader Argentina and three behind the Colombia, the second in the classification.

The team led by coach Dorival Júnior, which now has five wins, one draw and four losses in the qualifying rounds, managed to gain a three-point advantage over Ecuador and Paraguay, which threatens its position. Peru, rejuvenated after defeating Uruguay last week in Lima, dropped to the penultimate spot, with six points and seven adrift of Paraguay, last in the World Cup qualification zone.

The visitors started the match already destabilized as coach Jorge Fossati had to bring Bryan Reyna into his team at the last minute in place of attacker Alex Valera, who was injured in the warm-up. Brazil was the clear dominator in the first half (72% ball control), with Raphinha and Rodrygo standing in the attack and opening spaces, but there was no clarity in the completions and the center forward Igor Jesus was disconnected.

Peru, on the other hand, did not achieve any finish in the first 45 minutes (against five for Brazil) and dedicated themselves to defending themselves and protesting all the referee’s decisions. Although they hardly attacked, the Andean team opened the scoring in the 11th minute but Edison Flores’ score was disallowed for clear offside.

In Brazil’s first clear chance, Raphinha, with a powerful left foot shot, hit the crossbar in the 23rd minute. Fourteen minutes later, the Barcelona attacker opened the scoring with a penalty then, after consulting the VAR and several minutes of hesitation, the referee blew the whistle for Carlos Zambrano’s handball inside the area. On the plus side, Brazil attacked in the final minutes of the first half, but crashed into Peru’s wall.

The two teams returned unchanged for the second half, with Brazil retaining the initiative and attacking Peru’s goal fully to try and increase the score. The pressure was quickly on and the referee awarded another penalty after Zambrano brought down Savinho inside the area, who ran dangerously towards goal after receiving a pass from Raphinha. Again the Barcelona player was responsible for taking the penalty and extending the score for Brazil.

Brazil became a bigger team from the 68th minute when attackers Andreas Pereira and Luiz Henrique replaced Savinho and Rodrygo. Two minutes later, after Luiz Henrique assisted from the right, Pereira scored the third with a beautiful half volley inside the Peruvian area. And another three minutes later it was time for Luiz Henrique to score his goal and Brazil’s fourth. The Botafogo player already scored a goal in the 1-2 victory over Chile on Thursday in Santiago.

Brazil kept the pressure on until the end and almost got the fifth, which would have allowed it to climb to third place in the standings, in the last minute of the match, but Andreas Pereira’s free-kick went wide of Peru’s goal .

TECHNICAL SHEET

4 -Brazil: Ederson, Vanderson, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Abner; Bruno Guimarães (m.78, André), Gerson, Rodrygo (m.68, Andreas Pereira); Raphinha (76, Endrick), Savinho (m.68, Luiz Henrique) and Igor Jesus (m.76, Matheus Pereira)
0 – Peru: Pedro Gallese; Miguel Araujo, Carlos Zambrano, Alexander Callens, Luis Advíncula (m.73, Andy Polo); Jesús Castillo (m.56, Oliver Sonne), Wilder Cartagena, Sergio Peña (m.77, Murrugarra), Marcos López; Edison Flores (m.73, Grimaldo) and Bryan Reyna (m.56, Luis Ramos).
Objectives: 1-0, Raphinha, from p. (m. 37); 2-0, Raphinha, from p. (m. 53); 3-0, Andreas Pereira (m. 70); 4-0, Luiz Henrique (m. 73)
Referee: Uruguayan Esteban Ostojich yellow carded the Peruvians Reyna, Zambrano, Castillo, Gallese and Cartagena, and the Brazilian Vanderson.
Incidents: match for the tenth day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup played at the Arena BRB Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasilia before 60,139 spectators.