Soccer-Chile crush Venezuela, Paraguay defeat Peru in friendlies

By Javier Leira SANTIAGO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Alexis Sanchez tormented Venezuela's defence and opened the scoring with a header as Chile romped to a 5-0 home victory on Friday, while Paraguay defeated 2-1 Peru in Asuncion. Sanchez, in great form with Arsenal in the English Premier League, broke the deadlock in the 17th minute and almost scored a spectacular goal from a corner later during the first half. Chile dominated the match in the southern city of Talcahuano and went 2-0 up in first-half stoppage time with a low shot from Jorge Valdivia, who was returning to "La Roja" (The Red) after reconsidering his decision to quit the team after the World Cup. Valdivia's influence grew in the second half as Chile overwhelmed Venezuela. "I'm back and I'm happy," Valdivia said. "I trained hard to be back and I hope this is the first step of a good history with Chile." Forward Eduardo Vargas added another in the second half with Rodrigo Millar scoring in the 77th minute to make it 4-0. Substitute Pablo Hernandez capped the scoring with Chile's fifth in stoppage time. In Asuncion, Paraguay beat 2-1 Peru as their rebuilding stage continues after missing out on the World Cup in Brazil. Angel Romero's 70th minute opener was cancelled out four minutes later by Peru's Paolo Guerrero, but Paraguay sealed the victory two minutes into stoppage time when Derlis Gonzalez scored a penalty after Yoshimar Yotun handled the ball and was sent off. (Additional reporting by Daniela Desantis in Asuncion)