Arsenal’s Marquinhos provides Brazil assist at Pan American Games | OneFootball

Arsenal’s Marquinhos provided an assist for Brazil on Thursday night as they qualified for the knockout stages of the Pan American Games.

On loan with FC Nantes for the season, Arsenal winger Marquinhos has taken a break from Ligue 1 to go and play for Brazil at the Pan American Games this month.

The tournament is restricted to under-23 players, as with the Olympics, giving Arsenal’s 20-year-old Brazilian the chance to impress with his country.

Marquinhos has started both of Brazil’s games at the tournament so far, playing 74 minutes against the USA in a 1-0 win before making the starting lineup again as they faced Colombia in midweek.

Marquinhos marked his second start with his first goal contribution at the tournament, setting up Gabriel Pirani’s 52nd-minute goal to make it 2-0.

The Arsenal man received a long ball on the right-hand side, racing down the outside of the full-back before cutting inside onto his left foot. He then stabbed a pass towards Pirani, who took one touch and finished confidently.

The top two teams in each group progress to the semi-finals of the tournament, and Brazil are now assured of a top-two finish.

Brazil have six points after two games, with the USA and Colombia both picking up three. The USA play Colombia in their final game, so only one of them can pick up three points.

Brazil will play Honduras next on Sunday, 29th October at 16:00 BST to try and make it three group wins from three.

In the other group, Chile have already qualified on six points, with Uruguay on three, and Mexico and the Dominican Republic on one.

Brazil’s semi-final will take place on November 1st, and their final or third-place match will be played on November 4th.