Argentina dropped points in a second successive CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier, as Venezuela held them to a 1-1 draw in Maturin.

The spoils were shared at Estadio Monumental de Maturin, where Salomon Rondon's second-half header cancelled out Nicolas Otamendi's earlier effort.

After heavy rain delayed kick-off, Argentina took the lead in the 13th minute.

Venezuela goalkeeper Rafael Romo failed to properly clear the returning Lionel Messi's free-kick, and Otamendi reacted quickest to poke home from 12 yards out.

The hosts went close to levelling either side of the break. German Pezzella cleared off the line from Rondon, while Geronimo Rulli - deputising for the suspended Emiliano Martinez - kept out Yangel Herrera's powerful header.

However, Venezuela did grab their equaliser in the 65th minute - and subsequently a point - when Rondon rose at the near post to power home from Yeferson Soteldo's cross.

Messi returned to the international scene for the first time since limping off in tears during the Copa America final.

But the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner could not help Argentina get back to winning ways, while he conceded possession the joint-most times (19) by any visiting player.

The conditions certainly affected the flow of the game, and was more to the suiting of Venezuela. Although they had just 40.1% of possession, the hosts outshot their opponents 16-8.

However, they have now failed to win their last five CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers; their longest streak since going six without victory between June and October 2021.

Venezuela head coach Fernando Batista has branded their Copa America quarter-final exit as "part of the process" after losing on penalties to Canada.

La Vinotinto enjoyed a perfect group stage, winning all three of their games to top Group B while conceding just one goal.

They fought back to force the shootout on Friday, with Salomon Rondon scoring a stunning long-range effort to cancel out Jacob Shaffelburg's early opener.

However, Wilker Angel missed his spot-kick when it went to sudden death, and Canada, making their tournament debut, went into the semi-finals.

Batista has remained positive though, saying his team will use this tournament as a springboard to try and qualify for the World Cup for the first time in their history.

"This is a long process," Batista said.

"We have a huge dream that we're going for. All Venezuelans want to qualify for the World Cup.

"And the Copa America gave us a possibility of strengthening our squad."

Jesse Marsch has praised Canada for their "willingness" during a "fast learning curve" after they booked a place in the Copa America semi-final.

Les Rouges earned a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Venezuela after Salomon Rondon had cancelled out Jacob Shaffelburg's opener as the match finished 1-1 in normal time.

Maxime Crepeau then saved two penalties before it went to sudden death, and Ismael Kone scored the decisive spot-kick to send them into the next round.

After a poor string of results at the start of Marsch's tenure, Canada were tipped to make an early exit during their maiden Copa America.

However, they have defied the odds, and the American credited the spirit of his squad for pushing them forward.

"All the things that I know about them now, I sensed back then; their commitment, their desire, their willingness to learn," Marsch said.

"All of that has led to bigger belief and self-confidence.

"It's a very athletic team. It's a very fast team. I've tried to build in the right kind of aggression for them to go after opponents, to go after big games and to believe in how we're building this.

"Their commitment to try to learn, their belief in what I'm doing with them is very, very high. They're capable because they're athletic, because they're strong, because they're young.

"We've seen an incredibly fast learning curve, but it's because they're excited about playing this way, and they're excited about what we're trying to achieve together."

Captain Alphonso Davies was one of the players who stepped up during the shoot-out as he picked out the top corner with the penultimate penalty, knowing a miss would have sent them home.

After seeing a tame penalty saved in a defeat against Belgium in the 2022 World Cup, Davies was pleased to replace that memory with something more positive.

"Obviously, I had flashbacks to the World Cup, but I did not let that get to me. I knew where I wanted to go before I walked up to the ball," Davies told Canadian broadcaster TSN.

"It's going to take everything. We played them in the group stage. We played well but didn't get the win we wanted."

Canada will face Argentina in the semi-final at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday, having lost their tournament opener to the Albiceleste 2-0.

Ismael Kone sent Canada to their first Copa America semi-final as they overcame Venezuela 4-3 in a penalty shootout to edge a classic encounter. 

Jacob Shaffelburg opened the scoring for Canada, only for Salomon Rondon to net a stunning long-range equaliser to take the quarter-final the distance. 

With 32 shots shared between the two sides, penalties would decide who would face Argentina at the MetLife Stadium next week. 

The decisive miss came from Wilker Angel, with Kone's stuttering run up allowing him to coolly slot the ball beyond Rafael Romo to secure the victory. 

Despite the nerves of playing in their first-ever knockout fixture at the Copa America, it was Canada who would strike the decisive blow early on in Texas.

Having seen appeals for a penalty waved away moments earlier, Shaffelburg dusted himself down to open the scoring, squeezing home Jonathan David's cross at the near post in the 13th minute. 

Jesse Marsch's side had opportunities to double their advantage, as Shaffelburg saw his effort saved while David fluffed his lines with only Romo to beat as a pulsating first half came to a close. 

Canada's dominance continued after the break but Cyle Larin was unable to hit the target, and their wastefulness in front of goal was punished spectacularly. 

A long ball up front saw Rondon win a tussle with Moise Bombito, taking aim from just inside the Canada half to lob Maxime Crepeau for a goal of the tournament contender. 

David continued to threaten for Canada, chipping the ball in behind for Tani Oluwaseyi who could only find the roof of the net in the final chance of normal time. 

Both sides would miss two spot-kicks as the encounter reached sudden death, but Angel saw his effort saved by Crepeau, handing the responsibility over to Kone, who clinched a landmark victory for Marsch's side. 

Venezuela's young guns can be proud of their efforts

Fernando Batista can count his team unlucky following their gut-wrenching exit from the tournament, but his young squad can take pride in their performances at the tournament. 

Venezuela battled an onslaught of Canada pressure, but fought back with their own attacking talents, with Rondon's strike their fourth consecutive goal at the Copa America, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of five games in June 2015. 

However, hopes of reaching a first semi-final since 2011 were dashed. 

Nevertheless, Venezuela can leave the tournament with their heads held high, having equalled their highest goal tally (seven) in a single edition of the tournament. 

Canada through, but must improve in front of goal

Marsch said he wanted to build something special with Canada, and his side's run in the Copa America has been nothing short of sensational. 

Canada started brightly through Shaffelburg's early strike, with all three of his international strikes coming in knockout matches. However, it should have been more. 

From their 16 shots on goal, only seven were on target, with 12 of their efforts coming inside the box. Marsch's side underperformed their expected goals (xG) by 0.84, and had four total big chances compared to Venezuela's 0. 

Despite those underlying statistics, Canada will be hopeful of keeping their fairytale run in the competition alive against Argentina, who they lost to in the group stage of the competition. 

Jesse Marsch believes Canada can mount "something special" as they aim to build towards the 2026 World Cup, starting with the Copa America.

Marsch's team somewhat surprisingly made it through Group A behind Argentina, at the expense of Chile, who won back-to-back Copa America titles as recently as 2015 and 2016.

In their maiden Copa America, Canada will now go up against Group B winners Venezuela for a place in the last four.

And looking ahead to the next World Cup, which Canada will co-host along with the United States and Mexico, Marsch thinks the sky is the limit.

"I was thinking, 'Why did I take this job with those three opponents [coming] up?'" Marsch joked in an interview with FOX Soccer NOW, with his team having played pre-tournament friendlies against the Netherlands and France.

"I knew when I took the job that that the schedule was going to be very difficult, and by the way – put Peru and Chile in there as well – the first five opponents I knew were going to be very difficult. 

"But I thought that it would give us a chance to create really high standards for how we wanted to play and that these games would show the players that we need to uphold ourselves to very high standards. I felt that if we could execute, then we could have some success.

"There's real excitement in Canada about the team and the way we've played. That comes with, I think, a real hunger to keep this thing moving forward."

Canada have fared better than their 2026 World Cup co-hosts USA, who crashed out in the group stage.

"I would love to say I'm just focused on what we’re doing here in Canada, but obviously, I’m paying attention, as always, to the U.S. men's national team and, like you, I’m sad," Marsch added.

"I'm disappointed by the performances, by the lack of discipline. There’s a lot of things that I think we've tried to be about, about the game in the U.S., and we’ve always believed in this group of players.

"I’ll tell you: I'm glad, I'm here, man. Because the people that I work with and the players that I work with, the things that we know that we can achieve together, the support that we have from inside the country, the support system for this entire national team is so positive, so I think it gives us a real chance to develop something and build something and be ready for a big tournament come 2026."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Venezuela - Salomon Rondon

Rondon has scored two goals at this tournament for Venezuela.

Only three players can better Rondon's 1.98 xG across the tournament so far, while the 34-year-old has had 13 shots, which matches the total of the tournament's leading scorer Lautaro Martinez.

Canada - Jonathan David

Canada might have made it through, though they did only score one goal across their three Group A games. They are the fourth team to advance from the group stage in the Copa America despite scoring only one goal, following Mexico in 2001, Uruguay in 2007, and Colombia in 2015.

That came from Jonathan David, who is Canada's key attacker, and if they are to reach the last four, he is likely to be crucial.

MATCH PREDICTION: VENEZUELA WIN

Marsch's confidence is not shared by Opta's model, which fancies Venezuela to win in Arlington.

Venezuela have lost only two of their last 10 matches played in the United States, including friendlies, winning six of those games (D2). Additionally, La Vinotinto kept a clean sheet on seven of those occasions (W5 D2), with Colombia, Italy, and Ecuador being the only teams to score against them.

One more goal will match Venezuela's highest scoring tally in a single edition of the tournament, having scored seven goals in the 1967 and 2011 tournaments.

Venezuela are also unbeaten in their last four matches against teams from CONCACAF in this tournament (W3 D1).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Venezuela - 48.7%

Canada - 26.9%

Draw - 24.4%

The Copa America is well under way, with the group stages already done and dusted.

Argentina made light work of progressing from Group A, even though Lionel Messi had to sit out their last fixture.

And key to their success has been the goalscoring form of Lautaro Martinez, who is making up for some bad misses at the 2022 World Cup.

Brazil also progressed, with Vinicius Junior their talisman as expected, while Darwin Nunez is the key attacker for Marcelo Bielsa's free-flowing Uruguay.

Ahead of the knockouts, how is the Copa America Golden Boot race shaping up?

Lautaro Martinez (four goals)

We'll start with the leader in the race, and that is Martinez.

The forward had an outstanding season for Inter, who he led to the Scudetto while finishing as top scorer in Serie A, scoring 24 goals in 33 appearances, and comfortably outperforming his 17.6 xG.

However, he came into the build-up to this tournament in poor form for his country, having not netted for Argentina in 2026 World Cup qualifying.

But he scored a double in a 4-1 win over Guatemala in a pre-tournament friendly, and even though he has started just one of Argentina's matches so far, he has netted four times.

Martinez is also the Argentina player with the most shots (nine). In fact, since his debut in the Copa America in 2019, Martinez is the tournament's top scorer with nine goals (two in 2019, three in 2021, four in 2024), four more than Messi and Luis Diaz (five each).

It remains to be seen whether Martinez will have to settle for a super-sub role once Messi returns to the fold, but with Ecuador next up, and then a potential semi-final against either Canada or Venezuela, Argentina's path to the final is opening up nicely, and Martinez should fancy his chances.

Vinicius Junior (two goals)

Fresh from winning the Champions League with Real Madrid (and scoring in the final – again), Vinicius came into the Copa America as Brazil's talisman.

With Neymar absent through injury, the onus is on the winger to provide the creative spark and clinical edge to drag what looks like a more dogged, workmanlike squad through to the latter stages.

However, he will be absent for Brazil's clash with in-form Uruguay, who are arguably the favourites going into that tie, due to picking up two yellow cards in the group stages.

Vinicius' booking tally matches his goal tally at the tournament so far, with both of those having come in the first half of a 4-1 rout of Paraguay.

But with Brazil only having a maximum of two games left, will he have time to catch Martinez?

Darwin Nunez (two goals)

One player who could end Vinicius' hopes altogether is Uruguay forward Nunez.

The Liverpool striker is an erratic finisher, but he is an integral part of Marcelo Bielsa's free-flowing attack.

The 24-year-old may never be ultra-clinical, (he had a shot conversion rate of 10.2 per cent in the Premier League in the season just gone) but his pace, tenacity and work rate make him the ideal Bielsa folly up top.

Indeed, he has converted just one of his six Opta-defined big chances so far at this Copa America, but his two goals have come from an xG of 1.8, showing he's about on track.

If Uruguay can get past Brazil, they will face Colombia or Panama in the semi-finals. Nunez should be locking in on that Golden Boot.

Salomon Rondon (two goals)

An unlikely name on this list is Venezuela veteran Rondon, but his two goals – scored in wins over Mexico and Jamaica – helped his side top Group B with nine points.

Venezuela will face Canada in the quarters, and while Jesse Marsch's team are a surprise package in the last eight, they have proved they can be wide open defensively at times.

Only three players can better Rondon's 1.98 xG across the tournament so far, while the 34-year-old has had 13 shots, which matches Martinez's total.

He is getting into good positions and having plenty of attempts. If Venezuela indeed get the better of Canada, who's to say Rondon cannot claim this prize?

Daniel Munoz, Eduard Bello, Maximiliano Araujo (two goals)

There are three other players tied on two goals, though perhaps they are a tad more unlikely to challenge Martinez.

Munoz grabbed his second goal of the tournament in Colombia's 1-1 draw with Brazil, though as a right-back, he cannot be expected to keep up the scoring run.

Bello, meanwhile, has scored his two goals from just three shots, so that does not seem particularly sustainable.

Araujo, on the other hand, has netted twice from an xG of just 0.6, so he is overperforming.

What about Messi?

Not only did Messi finish as joint-top scorer at the 2021 Copa, he was also the leading assister and then, 18 months later, he went on to lead Argentina to World Cup glory, scoring seven goals in the process, from 6.6 expected goals – only Kylian Mbappe (eight) netted more times in Qatar.

Messi has scored 13 Copa America goals, which puts him joint-seventh on the all-time list, alongside fellow Argentina great Gabriel Batistuta. 

However, he has been unable to add to that total so far.

He took on the role of creator in Argentina's opening win against Canada, and has had seven shots in total, but so far, no luck.

Mateo Retegui scored a brace as Italy left it late to beat Venezuela 2-1 at Chase Stadium.

The Genoa forward’s double separated the teams, after Darwin Machis equalised for the South Americans on the night in Fort Lauderdale.

The Euro 2020 champions relied on Paris St Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma once again and his penalty saving heroics were on full display.

The penalty came early. Italy’s blushes were saved through Donnarumma who got down smartly to deny Salomon Rondon’s spot-kick in the opening minutes.

Italy enjoyed long spells of possession and Federico Chiesa went close to opening the scoring.

The Juventus winger cut inside on the left, opting for the far post but his whipped effort missed the target.

Machis was Venezuela’s brightest player up to this point. He delivered an inch-perfect ball to the head of Rondon but the former West Brom and Everton player’s header failed to trouble Donnarumma.

Italy broke the deadlock in the 40th minute. Goalkeeper Rafael Romo’s poor clearance was picked out by Andrea Cambiaso who laid the ball off to Retegui and the forward smashed the ball in from close range.

Italy’s lead only lasted a few minutes as the potent Machis levelled proceedings.

Donnarumma’s poor pass put Giacomo Bonaventura under pressure and Machis’ pressing forced the mistake out of the midfielder before he provided a composed finish.

The Azzurri were left frustrated and they missed an opportunity to go ahead on the hour when Alessandro Buongiorno should have done better with a header which sailed over the crossbar from a free-kick.

Retegui then capped an impressive night with the winning goal 10 minutes from time.

Jorginho used good footwork to beat a defender after a poor clearance and the Arsenal midfielder laid the ball off to the clinical Retegui, who completed his brace with a powerful finish.

Manchester United have already conceded 14 goals in seven Premier League games this season.

United boss Erik ten Hag is weighing up his goalkeeping options, having stuck with long-term number one David de Gea since taking over.

Reports have emerged that United and De Gea are set for talks on his future, with the 31-year-old's deal to expire in 2023.

TOP STORY – MAN UTD EYE COSTA AS DE GEA REPLACEMENT

Manchester United's goalkeeper situation is in flux, with the club interested in Porto custodian Diogo Costa, according to Metro.

United have sent scouts to watch the 23-year-old goalkeeper, who has seven caps for Portugal.

The Red Devils are looking for De Gea's successor, with the Spaniard seemingly not suiting Ten Hag's possession-based style.

United also have 25-year-old England international Dean Henderson out on loan at Nottingham Forest.

ROUND-UP

– O Jogo claims former Olympiacos manager Pedro Martins could be the latest Portuguese coach to take over at Wolves, following Bruno Lage's dismissal on Sunday. The Telegraph reports that under-fire Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui may be considered and Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has also been discussed.

– Juventus and Real Madrid will rival Liverpool in the race to sign Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans from Leicester City, claims Calciomercato.

– LaLiga pair Sevilla and Valencia are both interested in Manchester United forward Anthony Martial, reports Todofichajes.

– Tottenham and Juventus target Nicolo Zaniolo is set to pen a new deal with Roma, re-committing on a €4million per-year deal until 2027, according to Calciomercato.

– Everton's Venezuela international striker Salomon Rondon has interest from UAE club Sharjah FC but is likely to stay with the Toffees, reports Liverpool Echo.

Everton manager Frank Lampard has confirmed striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be out for up to six weeks with a knee injury.

The 25-year-old suffered the injury in training and will now be forced to miss the early part of the new Premier League season.

He spent much of last term on the sidelines but returned for the final four league games, with the England international scoring two crucial goals to help keep his club in the top flight.

But he will now be back in the Finch Farm treatment room, as he looks to get himself back to the player who scored 16 goals in 33 Premier League appearances in the 2020-21 campaign.

Everton boss Lampard was frustrated with the injury to his main striker but conceded that these things can happen.

"Losing a player like Dominic, his quality, in the week going into the first game is obviously going to affect you," the former Chelsea midfielder told reporters.

"I think we're probably looking at around six weeks for the injury. It comes with the territory of training at this level.

"We'll have to work around it, other players will have to step up and hopefully that six weeks passes relatively quickly and we'll get Dominic back."

"Through pre-season we were constantly commenting on how good he looked, strong, we were really pleased so it's a knock for everybody, particularly for him."

Calvert-Lewin's absence leaves Lampard with a selection headache for Saturday's Premier League opener against Chelsea, with a real lack of striking options available to him.

Last season's top goalscorer Richarlison has departed for Tottenham Hotspur this window in a £60million deal, while Salomon Rondon is suspended after being sent off against Brentford at the back end of the 2021-22 campaign.

Lampard suggested that it will be Dele Alli to play up top against Chelsea and did not rule out the possibility of a striker being brought in before the end of the window.

When questioned on any potential business, the 44-year old replied: "I wouldn't speak about other targets individually, but in that area of the pitch [attack], we are obviously aware.

"We lost Richarlison who was versatile across the front, we've brought in Dwight [McNeil] but we're well aware of areas where we want to strengthen.

"A lot of clubs will be making moves in the first few weeks of the season. I don't agree with it but it is what it is.

"Some clubs probably keep their cards close to their chest because of that and wait to see what happens at the end of the window. We know where we want to get to.

"In terms of last season, we finished where we were for a reason, we lost Richarlison who's a big player for us, so we have to assess once the window shuts."

Pep Guardiola saw Manchester City squander a glorious chance to all but make sure of the Premier League title, and their quest could go to the final day.

City rallied from two goals down to draw 2-2 at West Ham, but Riyad Mahrez's late penalty miss might yet be a telling moment in the race for silverware.

Tottenham piled pressure on Arsenal in the battle for fourth after a narrow win over a Burnley side who would have been devastated by Leeds United's late leveller against Brighton and Hove Albion, shaking up the relegation battle.

Everton might have seen the visit of Brentford as a chance to banish their own worries about dropping into the second tier, but a home defeat keeps the Toffees on unsteady ground, as Opta data tells the story of the day.

West Ham 2-2 Manchester City: Bowen's bullseye strikes and Mahrez's miss keep title race alive

Jarrod Bowen's double carried West Ham into a 2-0 interval lead, but Jack Grealish and Vladimir Coufal's own goal hauled City level.

This match almost produced a Premier League first for City; however, Mahrez's spot-kick was saved by Lukasz Fabianski in the closing stages to mean they could not complete the turnaround.

This was only the second time City had avoided defeat from two or more down at half-time (D2 L51), but that probably felt like scant consolation, given Liverpool are back in the hunt, providing the FA Cup winners collect three points at Southampton on Tuesday.

Mahrez has missed two penalties in all competitions for City – his first was against Liverpool in October 2018. Between that and the miss at the London Stadium, the Algerian had converted nine consecutive penalties.

Bowen has scored 12 times and provided 10 assists in the Premier League this season, with his 22 goal involvements the third most in a single campaign in the competition by a West Ham player, after Paolo Di Canio (29 in 1999-00) and John Hartson (23 in 1997-98).

Fabianski, the toast of east London and large parts of Liverpool, saved a penalty for the 10th time in the Premier League. Only David James (13) and Thomas Sorensen (12) have saved more in the competition.

Leeds United 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion: Late Struijk lifts Marsch men

Pascal Struijk headed a last-gasp leveller to negate the impact of Danny Welbeck's opener as Leeds gave themselves a relegation lifeline, climbing above Burnley to reach 17th place.

This felt significant, with Leeds avoiding defeat in a Premier League home game after conceding the opening goal for the first time since October (1-1 v Wolves), having lost each of their last seven such games.

Former Manchester United man Welbeck was looking like delivering three points for Brighton, and his first-half goal means the ex-England international has scored in both of his two Premier League appearances against Leeds. Indeed, they are the only opponent he has scored in his first two Premier League games against.

The Leeds late show has become a habit. Only Manchester City (9) have scored more goals in the 90th minute or stoppage time than Leeds (7) in the Premier League this season, with all seven of their goals in this period being scored by different players (Luke Ayling, Patrick Bamford, Joe Gelhardt, Daniel James, Raphinha, Rodrigo and Struijk).

Tottenham 1-0 Burnley: Cool-eye Kane keeps Spurs in hunt for fourth

When Harry Kane stepped up for a penalty that would have ramifications at each end of the table, the outcome was entirely predictable. Of course Kane scored, just as he now has with each of the last 21 penalties he has taken in all competitions for Tottenham, excluding shoot-outs, and each of his last 15 in the Premier League.

That match-winning spot-kick for Tottenham, after 52 minutes and 36 seconds of play, was the second-latest first-half goal scored in a Premier League game since Opta has exact times available (from 2006-07), behind only Trincao’s strike for Wolves against Leeds in March this year (55mins 11secs).

Kane has scored more Premier League goals against Burnley than any other player, with his ninth strike against the Clarets seeing him overtake Mahrez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (both eight). Burnley are the fourth side that Kane is the outright top Premier League goalscorer against, along with Arsenal (13 goals), Leicester (17) and West Brom (nine).

Burnley, who have games against Aston Villa and Newcastle United to come, need to find at least one point to stand hope of survival. Points at Tottenham have been hard to come by for Burnley, so this defeat came as little surprise. They have lost nine of their last 10 away league games at Spurs (D1).

Everton 2-3 Brentford: Red, red, whine

Everton had Jarrad Branthwaite and Salomon Rondon sent off in this one, with boss Frank Lampard complaining afterwards: "The reality is we're on the bad end of a lot of decisions this season."

Nineteen-year-old Branthwaite became the first teenager to receive a red card in a Premier League game for Everton since a 17-year-old Wayne Rooney in December 2002 against Birmingham City. Indeed, Everton have been shown more red cards than any other side in Premier League history (104).

There are more unwanted statistics starting to emerge in Everton's dismal season. They have conceded 59 goals now, their joint-most in a 38-game Premier League campaign alongside 2000-01.

Seamus Coleman, who put the ball into his own net for a first-half Brentford equaliser, has scored more Premier League own goals (5) than any other Everton player, while the Toffees have put through their own net the most often in Premier League history (58).

Brentford, who twice trailed after Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison scored either side of Coleman's own goal, have gained the most points from losing positions in the Premier League this term (15).

This was just the fourth match in Premier League history to see a first-half red card (Branthwaite), own goal (Coleman) and penalty (Richarlison), after Coventry v Wimbledon (November 1995), Charlton v Aston Villa (April 2001) and Tottenham v Fulham (February 2003).

Salomon Rondon scored twice to send Everton into the FA Cup quarter-finals at the expense of non-league Boreham Wood.

Thursday's contest at Goodison Park was preceded by a moving tribute to Ukraine amid the escalating conflict in the country following Russia's invasion last week.

Everton players, including Ukrainian Vitaliy Mykolenko, named captain for the match, came onto the pitch draped in blue-and-yellow national flags. Boreham Wood also bore Ukraine colours along with a shirt carrying Mykolenko's name.

The traditional Z Cars theme that usually accompanies Everton players onto the pitch then changed to John Lennon's Imagine, with the starting line-ups then holding a banner that read 'Imagine all the people, sharing all the world'.

The Premier League club had this week severed ties with three Russian sponsors, each of which is linked with Alisher Usmanov, the club's billionaire backer who has had assets frozen as part of sanctions imposed by the European Union. Usmanov called the action "unfair" and vowed to take legal action.

Boreham Wood have enjoyed a remarkable run in this season's competition, reaching the fifth round without conceding a goal even during qualifying, and they were resolute against Frank Lampard's side for much of the contest.

Rondon, who had earlier missed a clear chance with a header, broke the deadlock after 57 minutes with a near-post finish from Jonjoe Kenny's low cross.

Richarlison had a goal disallowed but Rondon forced a header over the line from an Andros Townsend delivery to settle the match six minutes from time.

Everton will now face Crystal Palace in the quarter-finals this month.