Sunday 23 June 2019 09:46, UK
A double by Darwin Machis and Josef Martinez's goal helped Venezuela beat Bolivia 3-1 and advance to the Copa America quarter-finals on Saturday.
Venezuela, which has never won the Copa America or qualified for a World Cup, finished second behind Brazil in Group A.
Peru finished third after being hammered by Brazil 5-0 and will have to wait for other results to know if it advances as one of the best third-placed teams.
Venezuela's next opponents in the last eight will be the second-place team in Group B, either Paraguay, Qatar or Argentina.
After two goalless draws with Peru and Brazil, Venezuela knew it had to bring its most attacking formation against Bolivia at the Mineirao Stadium to advance. The team also had to work without its two central defenders, Yordan Osorio and Mikel Villanueva, one affected by injury and the other by a fever. Jhon Chancellor and Luis Mago stepped up.
Venezuela scored after only two minutes, when Machis headed home a right-wing cross from Ronald Hernandez in front of only 4,640 people.
They added a second in the 55th minute, Machis scoring from the edge of the box.
Leonel Justiniano reduced Bolivia's deficit with eight minutes to go, but Josef Martinez, who substituted Machis shortly before, secured the victory four minutes later.
