For once it was not Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho instead scored the opener as Brazil rallied to a 2-0 win over Serbia, to qualify for the last 16 in their final Group E game on Wednesday.
Coutinho though earned an assist, becoming the first Brazilian since the great Pele, to record two goals and an assist in his first three World Cup matches. After being left out of the squad four-years ago, the Barcelona star has now overtaken Neymar as Brazil’s main threat in attacks and it was no surprise when he found club-teammate Paulinho with a wonderful through ball behind the Serbian defence – the latter toe-poking it past a hassling Vladimir Stojković in goal.
The goal came in the 36th minute but by then Brazil had already attempted three shots on target and Countho had already tried similar kinds of ball to Willian and Gabriel Jesus. But Serbia in all their efforts to stop the Samba boys hardly noticed the gap building in between their centre-backs. They had disregarded it and justifiably paid the price.
But standing at that moment, the game was far from over and Serbia responded immediately after the break – coming so close to scoring in the opening 20 minutes. The ‘White Eagles’ however lacked real-quality with Aleksandar Mitrović squandering two golden opportunities to score. The first was in the 62nd minute when goalkeeper Alisson mistimed his jump to a cross and all Mitrovic had to do was place the ball into an open net. The next moment he was allowed a free-header but again hit it straight at Alisson .
Their hopes of qualifying soon faded and all was lost when Thiago Silva, making the most of Mitrovic’s banana slip put the Selecao 2-0 ahead from a corner in the 68th minute.
Costa Rica hold Switzerland to 2-2 draw
Costa Rica finally salvaged some pride with a point against Switzerland at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Wednesday. The Swiss though went through to the last 16 despite the draw and will take on Sweden on July 3.
Also read:World Cup 2018: South Korea sent Champions Germany home; Sweden top Group F
Blerim Džemaili broke the deadlock within the half-hour mark, thunderbolting a shot into the net after Breel Embolo had found him in open space. Costa Rica however seemed adamant of going home with something and soon equalised just 11 minutes into the second- half, with Kendall Watson heading home from a corner.
The drama though was far from over and Switzerland took the lead just two minutes from the final whistle, when Josip Drmić volleyed home from a Denis Zakaria low-cross. But then just as it looked that the match will finally tilt in Swiss’s favour, Costa Rica equalised for a second time, when Yann Sommer unknowingly pushed the ball into the net. It came after Bryan Ruiz’s spot-kick was saved by the goalkeeper but the ball hit Sommer’s back to sail into the goal.
Switzerland will now take on Sweden in the pre-quarterfinal on June 03, while Brazil face the Mexican wave a day earlier.