Philippe Coutinho scored his first worldwide hat trick, Renato Augusto had two goals and Brazil routed Haiti 7-1 Wednesday night in Orlando in the Copa America.
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The defeat saw Haiti eliminated from the 2016 Copa America with one game still to play.
As expected, Brazil controlled the game against the 74th-ranked nation but was made to wait 15 minutes for the opener, though it was worth it after Coutinho produced a stunning strike to break the deadlock. The 23-year-old went on to add his second goal in the 28′ minute when Dani Alves sent in a well-placed cross to Benfica’s Jonas, who set up an easy tap-in for Coutinho. However, the mood was shifted again as Augusto grabbed his second in the 86′ following a defensive mistake by Haiti. And then even substitute Lima got into the act with a free header in the 67th to make it 5-0.
The crowd of 11,937 for Peru-Ecuador at the University of Phoenix Stadium was the lowest of the 12 games so far at the Copa Centenario and dropped the tournament average to 37,421 fans a game.
Having drawn 0-0 with Brazil in their opening Group B match, Ecuador’s hopes of a place in the quarter-finals depend on beating modest Haiti and the result between the Brazilians and Peruvians in Sunday’s last group matches.
Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona are both thought to be keen on acquiring his signature, and when he plays like he did against Haiti, it is no surprise to see why.
“This is a different group of players”, said Dunga at Wednesday’s post-game press conference. “I’m just happy we scored a goal”, Marcelin said. With 16 national team caps under his belt, Coutinho has had a hard time finding the back of the net for the Seleção, scoring only one goal back in 2015, when Brazil defeated Mexico 2-0. “Now we have to win against Peru”. “It was a comfortable win but we have to be humble, we have done nothing yet”, he said.
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“It’s not just important for Brazil to win, but for us to be the best players on the field in every game”, he said. And Edison Flores also showed a lovely turn eight minutes later to give Peru a 2-0 lead in the 13th minute. Dunga also, amidst his worry over the team’s overall performance, admitted saying, “We have been trying to groom Coutinho during our long preparatory camp, organized before Copa”.
