Neymar returned from injury to inspire Brazil to a 4-1 victory over South Korea on Monday as the favorites progress to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. The most expensive player in the world sat out his team’s last two games with a sprained ankle suffered in their first game in Qatar, a 2-0 win over Serbia. But he came back for this last-16 draw as Tite’s team clicked into gear and sent an ominous message to their rivals, at least before things calmed down in the second half. Vinicius Junior opened the scoring within seven minutes before Neymar scored another from the penalty spot to progress to 76 goals for his country, putting him just one short of tying Pele’s all-time record.
Richarlison’s brilliant goal made it 3-0 and Lucas Paqueta added another before the break to leave South Korea shocked.
Paik Seung-ho pulled one back, but by then Brazil were thinking about Friday’s quarter-final with 2018 runners-up Croatia.
The five-time World Cup winners had not scored four times in a knockout match at the tournament since 1998.
Here they sometimes played with the joy that comes with the Brazilian national team, the players gathered to celebrate each goal by showing off their dance moves and their coach even joined in.
When they finished playing to themselves, their first half performance was superb and a fitting tribute to the great Pelé.
The Brazilian legend had said he would watch the match from Sao Paulo hospital where he was admitted last week amid ongoing treatment for colon cancer, and supporters at Doha’s Stadium 974 unfurled a get well message banner for him.
It was all a cathartic experience for Son Heung-min and South Korea, who have never won a World Cup knockout match outside their own country.
Tite made 10 changes to the Brazil squad after rotating his side for the 1–0 defeat to Cameroon after securing qualification for the last 16.
Danilo also returned from injury at left-back, while Eder Militao was the only player to keep his place and move to right-back.
– Richarlison shines again –
With Alisson Becker back in goal and also Thiago Silva and Marquinhos in the game, this was Brazil’s first choice for defense but their forwards quickly got the game going.
The opening goal came from their first shot on target in the seventh minute as Raphinha burst off Kim Jin-su’s right and his ball crossed the goal at the feet of Vinicius who coolly picked his spot.
They then won a penalty as Richarlison was caught by Jung Woo-young and Neymar duly beat Kim Seung-gyu – his last six goals for Brazil now all came from the spot.
Alisson was then called into action to knock down a vicious long-range effort from Hwang Hee-chan, but Brazil scored their third in style just before the half hour mark.
Richarlison juggled three times with the ball on his head just outside the area before putting it to Marquinhos and then going through into the penalty area to get to the end of Silva’s pass which he slotted home for his third goal in this World Cup.
Paqueta then got their fourth nine minutes from half time with a first time finish when he made contact with a Vinicius ball held up from the touchline.
In the second half they could have added more if they hadn’t taken their foot off the pedal, although Raphinha was denied more than once by the goalkeeper.
Korea deserve credit for going through though and they were rewarded in the last fifteen minutes as substitute Paik headed down a header and sent in a ferocious shot from 25 yards that brushed Silva off to beat Alisson.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was then taken off for the final 10 minutes to be replaced by Weverton, while Neymar was also withdrawn with Tite’s thoughts on Croatia.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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