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Vinicius Júnior's Late Goal Seals Brazil's 2-1 Win over Colombia in South American Qualifying

Soccer Football - World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Brazil v Colombia - Estadio Mane Garrincha, Brasilia, Brazil - March 20, 2025 Brazil's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Soccer Football - World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Brazil v Colombia - Estadio Mane Garrincha, Brasilia, Brazil - March 20, 2025 Brazil's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
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Vinicius Júnior's Late Goal Seals Brazil's 2-1 Win over Colombia in South American Qualifying

Soccer Football - World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Brazil v Colombia - Estadio Mane Garrincha, Brasilia, Brazil - March 20, 2025 Brazil's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Soccer Football - World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Brazil v Colombia - Estadio Mane Garrincha, Brasilia, Brazil - March 20, 2025 Brazil's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

A last-minute goal by Vinicius Júnior secured Brazil’s 2-1 win over Colombia in World Cup qualifying on Thursday, helping his team and millions of fans avoid more disappointment.
A draw would have seen Brazil slump to sixth in the South American standings. Instead, Brazil moved to second spot behind Argentina after Vinicius Júnior’s long-range goal.
The top six teams in South America are guaranteed spots at next year’s World Cup in Canada, the US and Mexico, and so the victory released some pressure on Brazil coach Dorival Júnior ahead of next week's game against Argentina. The five-time champions have never missed a World Cup.
Lionel Scaloni's Argentina squad has 25 points after 12 games — four points clear of Brazil (21 points from 13 games) — and is close to securing its place in the 2026 World Cup.
Argentina will be without Lionel Messi when it plays at Uruguay on Friday, four days before its scheduled showdown with Brazil. The last time the two South American powerhouses met, Argentina won 1-0 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in 2023.
Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimarães and defender Gabriel Magalhães were booked against Colombia and will miss the match in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
Goalkeeper Alisson and Colombian defender Davinson Sánchez were substituted in the concussion protocol, and will also miss the next match in World Cup qualifying.
Colombia will play host to Paraguay next week.
VINICIUS SAVES BRAZIL Brazil appeared more energized than in previous games, with speed, high skill and an early goal from the spot suggesting that coach Dorival Júnior had found a starting lineup to get the job done.
But then a defensive mistake put it all at risk for the hosts in Brasilia until a moment of brilliance by Vinicius Júnior, The Associated Press reported.
Raphinha scored in the 6th minute after Vinicius Júnior was fouled in the penalty box. After that, Brazil kept possession, but didn't put on real pressure to add a second in front of 70,000 fans.
Colombia equalized with a crossed shot by Luis Diaz in the 41st, assisted by James Rodríguez. The visitors got the ball at the edge of Brazil's box from substitute Joeliton, who replaced injured Gerson.
Both teams struggled with accuracy in the second half until Vinicius Júnior took a shot from long distance which deflected off Jefferson Lerma and beat goalkeeper Camilo Vargas.
“This was very important, we deserved to win. I deserved this goal too for all I have worked for,” Vinicius Júnior said of his first goal in this qualifying tournament. “It was a bit of relief, a bit of happiness.”
Brazil coach Dorival Júnior said the win was key “because of our moment, our situation and for our process.”
“We're feeling now that we are on a path. It's not all ideal, but we will be improving every round."
Colombia coach Néstor Lorenzo was upset with the result.
“We had a great match again and we leave with nothing,” Lorenzo said. “We deserved more, once again.” Colombia is in 6th place with 19 points.
PARAGUAY EDGES CLOSER Paraguay remained unbeaten under coach Gustavo Alfaro with a tense 1-0 win over Chile in front of raucous fans in Asuncion. The hosts dominated most of the match and maintained pressure on their rivals, who could barely create scoring opportunities.
Omar Alderete scored the winner on the hour with a classic Paraguayan strategy: a set piece led to two headers that enabled Alderete to shoot from close range. It boosted Paraguay's chances of qualifying for the World Cup.
Paraguay has 20 points and is fourth in the standings. Chile, with nine points, is last in the round-robin competition.
Also on Thursday, Peru beat Bolivia 3-1. Andy Polo scored in the 37th minute, Paolo Guerrero added a second in the 45th and Edison Flores finished it off in 82nd. Miguel Terceros netted Bolivia's goal from the spot in the 58th minute.
Bolivia remains in seventh place with 13 points, which keeps the team in contention for inter-continental playoffs for World Cup spots. Peru has 10 points and is in ninth place.

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No Mbappe, No Chance? Real Madrid on Ropes Against Man City

Real Madrid's Spanish coach Alvaro Arbeloa looks on during the Spanish league football match between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos Stadium in Vigo on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Spanish coach Alvaro Arbeloa looks on during the Spanish league football match between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos Stadium in Vigo on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
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No Mbappe, No Chance? Real Madrid on Ropes Against Man City

Real Madrid's Spanish coach Alvaro Arbeloa looks on during the Spanish league football match between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos Stadium in Vigo on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Spanish coach Alvaro Arbeloa looks on during the Spanish league football match between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid CF at the Balaidos Stadium in Vigo on March 6, 2026. (AFP)

Rarely do record 15-time winners Real Madrid enter a Champions League clash as underdogs, but this is the situation when Manchester City visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

With key attackers Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo Goes set to miss the game injured and Alvaro Arbeloa's team in inconsistent form, the Premier League side are firm favorites in the last 16 tie.

Man City beat Madrid in the league phase in the Spanish capital and have strengthened since then, with Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi arriving, while midfielder Rodri is fit after missing that match during a long-term injury absence.

Xabi Alonso was at Madrid's helm then. But his successor Arbeloa has not got the team playing with more quality or consistency.

Perhaps his biggest success has been helping winger Vinicius Junior back to form, and the Brazilian represents Real Madrid's best hope of success against City.

The winger was key in Madrid's triumph over Jose Mourinho's Benfica in the play-off round, despite allegedly being racially abused in the first leg by Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni, who denies it.

Vinicius said he had felt "a little tired" after beating Celta Vigo in La Liga on Friday, with the team leaning on him over the past few matches. By contrast Man City coach Pep Guardiola rested Manchester City striker Erling Haaland for his team's FA Cup win over Newcastle at the weekend.

In the past Madrid have shown grit to get through Champions League ties when they have been outplayed and they will likely need to find that resolve again.

They needed a deflected 95th-minute goal from Fede Valverde to scrape their 2-1 win over Celta.

Arbeloa was asked what his team's approach was, as it was not particularly clear from their flat performance.

"To win the game, which is what Real Madrid plays for," responded the coach. "That's what we want and the objective we had today."

The same will be true on Wednesday, by any means necessary.

Arbeloa called on Madrid's supporters, who have been critical of their own players at times this season, to inspire the team against City.

"We need them, we need them on Wednesday, and they know it better than anyone," said Arbeloa.

"It's a Champions League night against a very tough opponent, one of the biggest clubs in the world of football right now.

"Playing at home, we know we're much stronger when the Madrid fans are on our side."

- Injury plague -

There has been some speculation that Madrid's top scorer Mbappe, who hit a hat-trick last season against City in the play-off round, could make a surprise return on Wednesday.

However, Spanish newspaper AS reports both he and Bellingham are targeting a potential return in the second leg.

Madrid have problems elsewhere with defenders Eder Militao and Alvaro Carreras and midfielder Dani Ceballos sidelined, and David Alaba also doubtful.

Guardiola may look to exploit Trent Alexander-Arnold's defensive frailty now the England international has begun to start more regularly. Celta got in behind the former Liverpool right-back to open the scoring last week.

Another positive for Arbeloa, of which there have been few since his arrival in January, has been the solid displays of Aurelien Tchouameni and Valverde.

They can offer the steel which Madrid need to withstand the might of Haaland and company.

In the 15 encounters between the two teams, they have each won five and also drawn five. Including the two upcoming matches, the fixture becomes the third most-played in the history of the competition.

This may well be the least confident Madrid have been in approaching any of the previous knock-out ties, even if they would never admit it.

"Real Madrid is about fighting until the end, believing, battling," said Arbeloa after beating Celta.

"Yes, we could do a lot of things better but with the personality and character we showed, I hope this can be a turning point and from here, everything goes much better."

Sports

Rosenior Back in France as Chelsea Face PSG Champions League Challenge

Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Wrexham v Chelsea - SToK Racecourse, Wrexham, Britain - March 7, 2026 Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior before the match. (Reuters)
Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Wrexham v Chelsea - SToK Racecourse, Wrexham, Britain - March 7, 2026 Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior before the match. (Reuters)
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Rosenior Back in France as Chelsea Face PSG Champions League Challenge

Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Wrexham v Chelsea - SToK Racecourse, Wrexham, Britain - March 7, 2026 Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior before the match. (Reuters)
Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Wrexham v Chelsea - SToK Racecourse, Wrexham, Britain - March 7, 2026 Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior before the match. (Reuters)

The renewal of Chelsea's rivalry with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League this week sees Liam Rosenior make a quick return to France, just two months after he left Strasbourg for Stamford Bridge.

Rosenior, 41, was appointed by Chelsea in early January on a six-year deal on the back of a solid body of work over 18 months at Strasbourg, as well as the close links between the two clubs run by the BlueCo consortium.

It is hard to imagine the former Fulham, Hull City and Brighton right-back would have been hired by one of the biggest sides in the Premier League without that controversial relationship, but Rosenior still made a major impression in Alsace.

He led Strasbourg to European qualification last season and laid foundations that have been built on by his successor Gary O'Neil, who has taken the team to the French Cup semi-finals while they are one of the leading contenders to win the Conference League.

Rosenior got a young side -- in which almost the entire squad is aged 23 or under -- playing a sophisticated brand of football, with high pressing, man-to-man marking and players very comfortable in possession.

Strasbourg were one of just two teams to beat PSG in Ligue 1 last season, with a 2-1 victory in May that admittedly came after Luis Enrique's side had been confirmed as champions.

And Rosenior's last visit to the Parc des Princes in October ended in Strasbourg claiming a 3-3 draw -- they had been 3-1 up at one point.

"We were playing against the best team in the world, full stop. I think they are a credit to this league," was how the Wandsworth-born coach described PSG.

This fixture became a genuine rivalry for a time in the last decade, when the clubs met in the Champions League knockout phase in three straight seasons, from 2014 to 2016.

The first was a quarter-final won by Chelsea, but PSG triumphed in the last 16 in the two years that followed.

The most recent encounter was in the Club World Cup final last July, when Chelsea won 3-0 against a tired PSG in sapping conditions at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Now they meet in the last 16 once again.

"These are the games you live for, games that you come into football for," Rosenior said after the draw was made late last month.

- Holders on verge of crisis? -

Rosenior has so far lost three games out of 15 in charge of Chelsea, all of them against Arsenal.

A 4-1 win at Aston Villa last Wednesday left the Blues fifth in the Premier League, and Saturday's extra-time victory at Wrexham took them through to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

A much-changed team for that game is likely to have little in common with the side that takes to the field in Paris, as Chelsea look to oust the reigning European champions.

PSG currently look more vulnerable than they have in a long time, with their performance in a 3-1 home defeat by Monaco on Friday being heavily criticized.

"The champions have stopped responding", was the headline in sports daily L'Equipe, which described Luis Enrique's team as being "on the verge of a crisis".

That might sound like an exaggeration, but Rosenior's description does not really hold right now with PSG having been beaten four times already in 2026.

Their lead over Lens at the top of Ligue 1 is just one point, and in Europe they appear a level below the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

Fitness has been an issue all season, off the back of a marathon last campaign, with Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele making his latest comeback at the weekend after a lay-off with a calf injury.

Key midfielders Fabian Ruiz and Joao Neves have been absent, while Gianluigi Donnarumma has never been adequately replaced in goal.

"We are clearly in difficulty at the moment but we need to maintain hope that will change," said Luis Enrique on Friday. "Confidence is not just something you buy at the supermarket."

Rosenior will be hoping to exploit PSG's weaknesses and repeat the achievements of Roberto Di Matteo and Thomas Tuchel, who both led Chelsea to Champions League glory having been appointed mid-season.

Sports

Five Iran Women Footballers Take Asylum in Australia

Iran team captain Zahra Ghanbari (2-L), Mona Hamoudi (C) and Atefeh Ramazanzadeh (R) react from the bench during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match between Iran and Philippines at Gold Coast Stadium on the Gold Coast, Australia, 08 March 2026. (EPA)
Iran team captain Zahra Ghanbari (2-L), Mona Hamoudi (C) and Atefeh Ramazanzadeh (R) react from the bench during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match between Iran and Philippines at Gold Coast Stadium on the Gold Coast, Australia, 08 March 2026. (EPA)
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Five Iran Women Footballers Take Asylum in Australia

Iran team captain Zahra Ghanbari (2-L), Mona Hamoudi (C) and Atefeh Ramazanzadeh (R) react from the bench during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match between Iran and Philippines at Gold Coast Stadium on the Gold Coast, Australia, 08 March 2026. (EPA)
Iran team captain Zahra Ghanbari (2-L), Mona Hamoudi (C) and Atefeh Ramazanzadeh (R) react from the bench during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match between Iran and Philippines at Gold Coast Stadium on the Gold Coast, Australia, 08 March 2026. (EPA)

Five players from Iran's visiting women's football team claimed asylum in Australia on Tuesday, seeking protection after they were branded "traitors" at home for refusing to sing the national anthem.

Iranian players fell silent as the anthem played ahead of a tournament match in Australia last week, an act seen as a symbol of defiance against the country.

US President Donald Trump was among those urging Australia to offer the players asylum, citing grave fears for their safety if they were forced to board a plane home.

Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials.

"We've been preparing for this for some time," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

"Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women. They're safe here and they should feel at home here."

Albanese thanked Australian media for their "restraint", hinting that news of the asylum bid had been held back until they were safe.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government had spent days in secret talks with the players, who were whisked to a safe house after leaving their hotel on the Gold Coast.

Pictures showed the players huddled around a table as Burke signed paper work granting them special visas to stay in Australia on humanitarian grounds.

The players broke out into chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie", Burke said, adding that the rest of the team would also be welcome to stay in the country if they wished.

It was not clear if the remaining players in the Iranian squad would fly home -- or when they might leave Australia.

US President Trump was among the first to confirm five players were safely in the care of Australian officials, following a late-night call with Prime Minister Albanese.

He had hours earlier urged Australia to do the right thing, saying it would be a "terrible humanitarian mistake" if the players were forced back to Iran.

- 'Wartime traitors' -

A presenter on Iranian state TV branded the players "wartime traitors" after they stood motionless during the anthem before a match against South Korea last week.

Although they sang the anthem -- an ode to the glory of the republic -- in later matches, human rights activists warned the damage was done.

"The members of the Iranian Women's National Football Team are under significant pressure and ongoing threat from the Islamic Republic," said Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran.

"I call on the Australian government to ensure their safety and give them any and all needed support," he said on social media.

Pahlavi has billed himself as the man to lead a democratic transition to a secular Iran as the theocratic regime fights to survive.

The US and Israel bombarded Iran with heavy missile fire on February 28, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei with the opening salvos of a war that now threatens to engulf the Middle East.

Politicians, human rights activists and even "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling had called for Australia to offer the side protection.

Crowds gathered outside the Gold Coast stadium where the side played their last match over the weekend, banging drums and shouting "regime change for Iran".

Supporters surrounded the Iranian team bus, chanting "let them go" and "save our girls". On Monday, an AFP journalist saw members of the team speaking on phones from their hotel room balconies.