Robinho showed why Manchester City broke the British transfer record to bring him to England when he scored two goals and made another in Brazil's 4-0 win over Venezuela. The Brazilian's double in Sunday's 4-0 win in San Cristobal kept his side on course for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
His first goal - Brazil's second - was a sensational 10th-minute strike. He picked up the ball on the left side of the field and then fired a 30-yard right-footed shot into the net. Robinho, who moved from Real Madrid to City for £32.5million (Dh203m), then settled the match with his team's fourth goal 23 minutes from time. It was the perfect riposte after the Brazilians had been criticised following a goalless draw at home to Bolivia last month.
Robinho believes they lifted themselves after that result, but also paid tribute to teammate Kaka, who opened the scoring for Brazil from Robinho's pass in the sixth minute in his first international for 11 months. Brazil's third goal was scored by Adriano after 19 minutes. "Kaka is a spectacular player," Robinho said. "With him on the field, things become much easier." The Brazil coach, Dunga, was delighted with the performance after claiming "dirty tricks" had been used to try to upset his men, who remain second in the qualifying zone behind Paraguay.
"When we play away in the World Cup qualifiers, the whole country unites to try to make things as difficult as possible for Brazil," he said, revealing his country's flag was also burned at the stadium and their national anthem jeered. "They left us stuck in the plane for an hour and a half. Inside the hotel, we also had numerous difficulties during the night. There was a discotheque and a lot of shouting near the players' rooms. Four or five players were ill because of the food. This creates a certain difficulty. We show respect for all the teams and ask for respect for us."
Brazil moved level with Argentina on 16 points, four points behind leaders Paraguay, who defeated Colombia 1-0. Their victory ensured Brazil extended their record of 13 wins from 13 games against Venezuela. Cristian Benitez scored the only goal as Ecuador defeated Chile. Chile were reduced to 10 men after 19 minutes when Ismael Fuentes was dismissed for a bad foul, but the hosts had to wait until 20 minutes from time to go in front when Benitez converted Luis Bolanos' corner with a header after a mistake by Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Ecuador had Luis Antonio Valencia sent off for a foul six minutes later but Chile were then reduced to nine men when Gonzalo Jara received a second yellow card. It was Ecuador's third win and it moved them level in the standings with fifth-placed Uruguay, one point behind Chile. @Email:akhan@thenational.ae