ASUNCION // The Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz dedicated Paraguay's 2-0 World Cup qualifier victory over Venezuela to the country's fans. After a good performance in the 1-1 draw against Argentina, Paraguay dominated throughout this game as midfielder Cristian Riveros put Gerardo Martino's side ahead in the 28th minute. And just before the break Santa Cruz set up Nelson Haedo Valdez to double the advantage.
The victory increased Paraguay's lead at the top of the table with 17 points, five ahead of Argentina and Brazil and Santa Cruz admitted the fans deserved the win. "This really is a Paraguayan celebration," he said. "The country deserve this and a lot more. We were clearly superior and always controlled the match." Meanwhile, the Brazil forward Robinho has owned up to daubing graffiti on the wall of the team's dressing room after Sunday's 3-0 win away to Chile in a World Cup qualifier.
Newspaper pictures showed the words "There must be respect for the best team in the world," written in Spanish. Robinho said it was a response to the Chilean players, who he said under- estimated Brazil before the game. "I was the one who wrote it," he said. "Chile should have respected Brazil for our tradition, which I don't need to talk about. They thought it would be easy. We didn't ask for anything more than respect. Maybe if they had played more defensively, they would have made it more difficult for us. But they tried to play us on equal terms and you saw the result."
* Reuters