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Diniz’s upbeat Brazil face Peru


Published : 12 Sep 2023 08:07 PM

An upbeat Brazil will look to follow up Friday's dominant victory over Bolivia when they travel to Lima for Wednesday's clash with Peru in World Cup qualifying.

Bruno Guimaraes, who bossed the midfield and assisted one in Brazil's whopping 5-1 victory against Bolivia in Bellem, hailed the impact of new Brazil manager Fernando Diniz.

"He [Diniz] has instilled a lot of belief in us," Guimaraes told reporters on Sunday. "He sees football differently and is a great motivator. I think there's still a lot to do because we've only had four training sessions with him but the game against Bolivia showed that we are on the right track."

Guimaraes has been capped 13 times for Brazil but has made only four starts. The 25-year-old Newcastle United playmaker revealed a desire to become a more central figure in the Brazil team under Diniz.

"I've had a lot of call-ups but not many minutes until now," he said.

Brazil's star forward Neymar will look to add more to his tally, after surpassing legend Pele to become the country's all-time top-scorer with 79 goals. Having missed a penalty in the first half against Bolivia, Neymar scored a brace to overtake Pele, who has 77 goals for Brazil.

Meanwhile, Peru, the hosts, will be hoping to pull off a surprise result and claim all three points after they shared the spoils with Paraguay in their opening game.

While they may have won just one of their last five internationals, Peru will be pleased with the fact they have now kept three clean sheets in their last four matches.

Another point on Tuesday would certainly be regarded as a success, but the hosts will be dreaming of claiming their first competitive win over Brazil since June 2016.