Neymar made his return from injury to inspire Brazil to an emphatic 4-1 win over Korea Republic as they sealed their passage into the last eight of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Vinicius Junior opened the scoring from a Raphinha low cross into the box after a beautiful team move down the right. The ball took a slight touch off Neymar, who initially tried to score but failed.
Hence, the assist was credited to the PSG man who got on the score sheet from the spot six minutes later after Richarlison draw a foul inside the penalty area.
Making his return from injury, Neymar calmly slotted his effort past Seung-Gyu Kim to double Brazil’s lead. As a result, each of the 30year old’s last six goals for the national team have all come from the spot.
Brazil look convincing and South Korea would have at that time conceded defeat but even their nightmare was only about to start as Brazil continued to look dangerous and create danger for the Korean defence.
Richarlison got on the end of a brilliant team move to get his third goal of the tournament, making it 3-0 just before the half hour mark. Thiago Silva got the credit for the assist with a calmly threaded through ball, though much of it was about Richarlison, who won back possession in the build up.
Seven minutes later, Brazil break from their own half through Richarlison. The Tottenham forward worked the ball and played it to Neymar, who feeds it into Vinicius Junior.
The Real Madrid winger whipped a cross into the heart of the box and arriving from the midfield, Lucas Paqueta fired home for Brazil’s fourth and they took a 4-0 lead into the half time break.
Brazil conituend their domination after the interval but could not add another goal and it was the Asian who got a consolation through Seung-Ho Paik 14 minutes from the end of normal time.
After the Brazil defenders dealt with a free-kick, the ball fell kindly to the substitute, who took a touch to set himself up and unleashed a glorious half volley from yards out, beating Alisson to his left.
It was the first goal conceded by the Liverpool goalkeeper in this tournament and will surely be disappointed with himself for letting that pass him.
It finished 4-1 and Brazil move into the quarter finals, where they will meet Croatia, who saw off another Asian nation in Japan earlier in the evening thanks to an astonishing individual performance from their Goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, who saved a hat-trick of penalty.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
