Brazil delivered arguably the best performance of the Qatar World Cup so far as they struck four first-half goals in a 4-1 demolition of South Korea in Monday evening’s one-sided last-16 clash.
The Selecao had suffered a surprise defeat to Cameroon in their final group game as manager Tite fielded a second-string XI, but they reverted to their first-choice line-up at Stadium 974 and laid down a marker to reassert their credentials as pre-tournament favourites.
It took just seven minutes for Vinicius Junior to open the scoring, collecting Raphinha’s low cross and calmly stroking the ball past a horde of red shirts and into the top corner.
Just a few minutes later Brazil doubled their lead after Richarlison was brought down inside the box with Neymar – who recovered from injury in time to start the match – rolling the resulting penalty past Kim Seung-gyu.
Just before the half-hour mark it was Richarlison’s turn to get in on the act, starting and finishing an outstanding move to prompt yet more jubilant scenes – and even a pigeon celebration from Tite – before West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta finished off another excellent move to make it four not long after.
The second half was a rather tamer affair and it took a smart stop from Alisson to prevent Son Heung-min from pulling a goal back shortly after the restart, though South Korea did get a late consolation goal after a brilliant strike from Paik Seung-ho.
By that point Tite had already started to shuffle his pack and protect some of his stars – with third-choice keeper Weverton even subbed on – and Brazil will now face Croatia in the quarter-final on Friday.
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