Brazilian star Neymar Jr returned to the squad after sustaining an ankle injury during their World Cup Group G opener against Serbia, resulting in him missing the rest of the group stage fixtures.
The 30-year-old was instrumental in Brazil’s 4-1 triumph against South Korea in their round of 16 encounter on Tuesday night at Stadium 974.
Brazil lined up a strong team to take on the Koreans and dominated early into the game. Vinicius Jr opened his goal scoring account in the seventh minute with a composed strike at close range, after being set up by Raphinha.
Neymar scored the second goal of the match through a cheeky penalty kick, after Richarlison was brought down inside the box by Jung Woo-young in the 13th minute.
The flood gates opened into Paulo Bento’s side, as a Richarlison’s individual brilliance inspired Brazil’s third goal of the game in the 29th minute.
The South Americans continued their dominance and showed why they are tournament favorites, when Neymar picked up the ball from the halfway line and passed it to Vinicius Jr – who whipped in a cross that found Lucas Paqueta inside the box, and half volleyed the ball into the back of the net to increase their lead to 4-0 before halftime.
The Paris Saint-Germain star proved to be the missing puzzle in Tite’s team that lost to Cameroon, as he was involved in two of their goals to earn himself a man of the match performance.
Selecao will have to go past Luka Modric’s side in the quarterfinals to keep their World Cup journey alive.
Croatia and Brazil will meet at the Education City Stadium on Friday.
For the latest sport news from Sunday World, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
