Central & South America

Neymar overtook Ronaldo and moved into second place behind Pele on Brazil's all-time goalscoring list after notching a hat-trick in a 4-2 victory over Peru on Tuesday in a World Cup qualifier.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker now has 64 goals, two more than Ronaldo and 13 behind Pele, who heads the list with 77, according to the count by world governing body FIFA.

Brazil coach Tite was reluctant to compare his current star with past greats.

SAO PAULO — Roberto Firmino scored twice and Marquinhos and Philippe Coutinho also got goals as Brazil hammered Bolivia 5-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier in Sao Paulo on Friday.

Brazil had never lost a World Cup qualifier at home, a run that stood at 54 matches going into Friday's game, and they never looked in danger of losing that record.

Brazil vs Bolivia Highlights (All Goals)

Premier League club Everton have signed a partnership agreement with their Chilean namesakes Everton de Vina del Mar and their Mexican owners Grupo Pachuca.

The South American club, four-times champions of Chile, took the name Everton after the Merseyside club toured the country along with Tottenham Hotspur in 1909.

From one Everton to another.  

Luis Suárez has said he was reduced to tears by Barcelona's treatment of him in his final weeks at the club before leaving for LaLiga rivals Atletico Madrid and revealed he was not allowed to take part in training matches.

"Those days were very difficult. I cried because of what I was having to go through," Suarez told the Uruguay national team's official media after scoring in Thursday's 2-1 win over Chile in a World Cup qualifier.

Argentina got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to the perfect start on Thursday when Lionel Messi's early penalty gave them a 1-0 win over Ecuador in a lackluster match in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine FA piped fan noise around the empty Bombonera stadium and the chants of "Messi! Messi!" were vindicated as early as the 12th minute when he put Argentina ahead from the spot after Lucas Ocampos was fouled inside the penalty area.

FIFA 21 officially releases worldwide on Friday, Oct. 9, but anyone who ordered the Ultimate or Champions editions, as well as those provided early access codes by EA Sports, are now free to play the game. With the early reviews arriving, is FIFA 21 worth it?  

The elephant in the room is the situation faced by video game developers over the course of the ongoing pandemic. I’ve got huge respect for Pro Evolution Soccer’s decision to admit that PES 2021 is nothing more than a “season update” with the latest lineups, kits, etc. and a reduced retail price of $29.99. 

It’s flown under the radar since it’s not within the FIFA International Match Calendar — meaning European clubs aren’t obligated to release players — but the Mexico national team returns to action on Wednesday night with a friendly against Guatemala at the Azteca. 

It’s been almost a year since we last saw El Tri (a 2-1 victory over Bermuda back on Nov. 19, 2019), but the likes of Miguel Layún, Uriel Antuna and José Juan Macías are finally back in action for the world’s 11th-ranked nation.

The president of Paraguayan club Olimpia, one of the most successful in South America, has been banned for life from football after being found guilty of match manipulation, global soccer body FIFA said on Monday.

Anthony Fontana, Ilsinho and Brenden Aaronson each scored one goal to lift the host Philadelphia Union past Inter Miami 3-0 on Sunday night.

Kacper Przybyłko recorded assists on the first two goals for the Union, who are 4-1-0 in their past five games. The Union (8-2-4, 28 points) picked up three points in heavy rain without captain and midfielder Alejandro Bedoya (suspension for yellow-card accumulation) and right back Ray Gaddis (hamstring).