ASUNCION, Paraguay — Vinicius Júnior missed a second-half penalty as Brazil was held to a 1-1 draw at Venezuela on Thursday, leaving the Real Madrid star still without a goal in World Cup qualifying.
Vinicius Júnior had the chance to score a potential winner after he earned the penalty in the 67th minute but his low spot kick was saved by goalkeeper Rafael Romo and the Brazil forward then shot wide from the rebound.
Brazil had the best chances in the first half, with Vinicius hitting the post once after dribbling three Venezuelans and shooting from the edge of the box. But it was Raphinha who opened the scoring from a free kick in the 43rd minute.
Venezuela brought on 21-year-old Telasco Segovia at halftime and the substitution had an immediate effect as he equalized in the 46th minute with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
Venezuela went down to 10 men in the 89th minute after Alexander Gonzalez was sent off for hitting both Gabriel Martinelli and Vinicius Júnior in the face.
The irrigation system then came on two minutes before the final whistle at the Monumental Stadium in the city of Maturin, 500 kilometers (310 miles) west of capital Caracas, which angered Brazil players.
The draw puts Brazil provisionally in third place in the 10-team standings with 17 points from 11 games. Vinicius Júnior has played six matches in South American World Cup qualifying, with one assist and no goals.
“When we don’t win I leave the pitch a bit disappointed, we deserved to win this one,” Raphinha said after the match. “But it is an important point playing away, we are working hard to win the next one at home.”
Brazil will face Uruguay in Salvador on Tuesday, when Venezuela will play at Chile.
Later Thursday, Argentina played at Paraguay with the hosts having banned local fans from wearing any Lionel Messi shirts in the home crowd, while Ecuador hosted Bolivia.
TV footage of the match in Asuncion showed that the vast majority of the local crowd was wearing Paraguay’s red and white colors, with no Messi shirts visible in the local broadcasts.
The 11th round of South American World Cup qualifying will continue on Friday with second-placed Colombia visiting Uruguay and the bottom two teams in the standings, Peru and Chile, facing off in Lima.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
