Vinícius Júnior scores twice to lead Brazil to 4-1 win over Paraguay in Copa America group stage

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vinícius Júnior scored two first-half goals to lead Brazil to a 4-1 victory over Paraguay on Friday night and put itself in position to advance out of Group D in the Copa America.

“Today, he played almost a perfect match," Brazil coach Dorival Júnior said through an interpreter. “He was dynamic.”

Sávio also scored a first-half goal for Brazil and Lucas Paquetá scored on a penalty kick in the second half. Omar Alderete scored Paraguay's goal.

There were plenty of tense moments with five yellow cards and a red handed out. Andres Cubas was sent off for a red card in the 81st minute, forcing Paraguay to play the last part of the match down a man. Yellow cards were handed to Brazil’s Wendell, Vinícius Júnior and Lucas Paquetá and Paraguay’s Fabián Balbuena and Hernesto Caballero.

The victory was quite a response for the Seleção, who opened the tournament Tuesday with a scoreless draw against Costa Rica despite outshooting their opponent 18-2.

“There was a certain level of disappointment for the lack of results in the first match," Dorival Júnior said. "But I think our performance was of a great level. We’ve made great progress in very little time. We almost never have 20 days to work together.

“I told you be patient because this team is trending on the right path.”

With four points, Brazil is two behind group leader Colombia, which defeated Costa Rica 3-0 earlier Friday. A victory or tie by Brazil against Colombia on Tuesday ensures one of the group's two spots in the knockout stage. Brazil also has a six-goal differential advantage over Costa Rica, so a loss likely won't keep out the nine-time Copa America champions.

Paraguay will not advance to the next round, leading to some tense back-and-forth between coach Daniel Garnero and reporters who questioned the team's continued struggles in this tournament. The country has won Copa America twice, but not since 1979.

“There have been many head coaches and nobody’s finding the solution," Garnero said through an interpreter. "You’re talking about a match that just finished. I cannot talk about something that happened ages ago.”

Brazil has had its difficulties against Paraguay in Copa America play, having drawn in their previous five meetings. That tied for the second-longest unbeaten streak against Brazil in this tournament, which Paraguay also was part of from 1963-83.

But Brazil won the most recent meeting, defeating Paraguay 4-0 two years ago in World Cup qualifying, and there was little doubt about the outcome of this match after two late goals broke it open in what was a contentious end to the first half.

Moments after teammate Bruno Guimarães hit the crossbar, Sávio put Brazil up 2-0 in the 43rd minute.

Both teams got into a scrum in first-half stoppage time, with Chilean referee Piero Maza handing yellow cards to Wendell and Balbuena at three-plus minutes. Then Vinícius Júnior delivered the crushing blow five minutes into first-half stoppage time.

Paraguay had its chances and even outshot Brazil 8-5, including 4-3 on goal. Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker made a tremendous save diving to his right to prevent a goal from Damián Bobodilla 15 minutes into the match.

Early in the second half, however, Alderete scored to close the deficit to 3-1.

Then 17 minutes later, Lucas Paquetá made up for a missed penalty kick in the first half by converting to give back Brazil its three-goal lead.

“We played against two world class teams," said Garnero, referencing Paraguay's 2-1 loss to Colombia in its opener. "It’s complicated being in my place. I’m seeing a great effort by the team. They’ve measured up, but we still need to achieve the results.”

Dorival Júnior made a bold and controversial move by deciding not to start Raphinha. The move, with national team legend Neymar watching from the stands, clearly paid off.

Raphinha was a late-game substitute, entering the match at the 72nd minute in place of Sávio.

AP Copa America coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/copa-america

Brazil's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring his side's third goal against Paraguay during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Brazil's Vinicius Junior celebrates scoring his side's third goal against Paraguay during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Paraguay's Adam Bareiro heads the ball challenged by Brazil's Eder Militao during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/L.E. Baskow)

Brazil's goalkeeper Alisson stretches out for a save attempt during a Copa America Group D soccer match against Paraguay in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Brazil's Andreas Pereira, left, and Paraguay's Hernesto Caballero fight for the ball during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Brazil's Vinicius Junior, left, scores his side's opening goal against Paraguay during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

A fan supporting Brazil waits for the start of a Copa America Group D soccer match against Paraguay in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

A fan supporting Brazil waits for the start of a Copa America Group D soccer match against Paraguay in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Brazil's Wendell, right, clears the ball away from Paraguay's Julio Enciso during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/L.E. Baskow)

Brazil's Savinho (20) celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Paraguay with teammate Vinicius Junior during a Copa America Group D soccer match in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Brazil's Vinicius Junior, right, celebrates with teammate Rodrygo after scoring his side's third goal during a Copa America Group D soccer match against Paraguay, in Las Vegas, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting Monday after the French market roared higher as elections continue to drive swings in financial markets worldwide.

The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in morning trading as it kicked off a short, four-day week that includes the Fourth of July holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 187 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.

Some of the world’s strongest action was across the Atlantic, where the CAC 40 index in Paris jumped as much as 2.8% before settling to a gain of 1.8%. Results from France suggested that a far-right political party may not win a decisive majority in the country’s legislative elections. That could mean France may avoid one of the worst-case scenarios for financial markets, where such a victory could lead to policies that would greatly increase the French government’s debt and other challenges.

This is a big year for elections worldwide, with voters heading to the polls in the United Kingdom later this week and soon elsewhere. In the United States, pollsters are measuring the fallout from last week’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. It all underscores “political polarisation and how elections are determining economics, rather than vice versa,” according to Nick Gentle and other members of the product management group at Barclays.

Treasury yields rose in the U.S. bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.44% from 4.39% late Friday.

Yields have been generally trending lower since the 10-year Treasury yield topped 4.70% in late April. They've been easing on hopes that inflation will slow enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate later this year, down from the highest level in more than two decades. High rates have been slowing the U.S. economy by making it more expensive to borrow for a house, car or anything else.

Hopes for rate cuts strengthened after a report showed U.S. manufacturing weakened last month by more than economists expected. Perhaps even more importantly for Wall Street, the report from the Institute for Supply Management also showed price increases are decelerating, even if prices are still rising. Taken together, the data could offer more of the evidence of lessening pressure on inflation that the Federal Reserve wants before it will cut rates.

This week's highlight for economic reports will likely arrive on Friday, when the U.S. government will say how many workers got hired to payrolls during June. Economists predict overall hiring slowed to 190,000 from May's 272,000. That would get the number closer to what Bank of America calls the “Goldilocks” figure of roughly 150,000, give or take 25,000.

At that level, the U.S. economy could continue to grow and avoid a recession without being so strong that it puts too much upward pressure on inflation.

On Wall Street, Chewy swung from a big early gain to a loss of 4.1% after a widely followed trader named Keith Gill revealed he owned just over 9 million shares of the pet supply company. That’s about 6.6% of the entire company, according to a filing made Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gill came to fame during the original meme-stock craze of 2021 that saw GameStop rally to market-bending heights. Through it, Gill became the face of fans pushing GameStop ever upward. Gill had returned to talking about GameStop again recently, which helped its stock rally. But it fell 5.5% Monday following his disclosure about Chewy.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Spirit AeroSystems rose 3.6% after Boeing said it would buy the maker of fuselages and other airplane parts for $4.7 billion in stock and assume about $3.6 billion of its debt.

Boeing, which rose 2.4%, has been facing tougher scrutiny from the government and the airlines who buy its planes over worries about safety and quality. Boeing previously owned Spirit AeroSystems, and the purchase reverses a longtime company strategy of outsourcing key work on its passenger planes.

Meta Platforms fell 1.8% after European Union regulators accused it of breaching the bloc’s new digital competition rulebook by forcing Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.1% after a quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan called the “tankan” showed a modest improvement in confidence among the country’s largest manufacturers in April through June.

Stocks in Shanghai rose 0.9% following mixed data on the world’s second-largest economy.

AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

FILE - A man walking on Wall Street approaches the New York Stock Exchange, right, on June 26, 2024, in New York. Shares advanced in Europe on July 1, 2024, with the benchmark in Paris up 2.8% briefly after the far-right National Rally gained a strong lead in first-round legislative elections. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

File - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on May 28, 2024, in New York. Global shares have advanced on Friday, June 28, 2024, as traders look ahead to a key report on inflation that could influence the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Currency traders watch their computer monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rates at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Currency traders walk by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)