Brazil cruised into the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Monday evening, beating South Korea 4-1 at Stadium 974 in Qatar.
First-half goals from Vinicius Junior, Neymar, Richarlison and Lucas Paqueta fired the five-time World Cup winners into a commanding 4-0 lead by the interval, meaning their place in the last-eight was all but assured by the time both sides headed back to the dressing rooms at the midway stage. South Korea did pull a goal back after the break through a thunderous effort from Paik Seung-ho to reduce the deficit.
That, though, failed to take the shine off what was a brilliant Brazilian performance, meaning they will now face Croatia for a place in the semi-finals. The two sides will go toe-to-toe in the first quarter-final showdown on Friday afternoon.
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After naming a much-changed team for their concluding group game against Cameroon last Friday, Brazil boss Tite was always going to revert back to his strongest line-up against South Korea, meaning the likes of Thiago Silva, Casemiro and Neymar all returned. It had the desired impact as Brazil found themselves 2-0 up with less than a quarter of an hour on the clock.
After Vinicius cooly stroked Brazil into the lead, they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Richarlison. Neymar stepped up and slotted the ball home, doubling the lead with just 13 minutes gone.
But while just about every pair of eyes inside Stadium 974 were fixated on the Paris Saint-Germain star, Manchester United midfielder Casemiro could not watch. Instead, the 30-year-old, who produced an outstanding performance in midfield, turned his back on Neymar and decided to look towards the other end of the pitch.
It was a high-pressure moment and Casemiro obviously felt more comfortable by not looking. The former Real Madrid man, however, should not have been worried; Neymar made no mistake and wheeled away to celebrate his first goal of the tournament.
Casemiro, for a few seconds, however, continued to have his eyes fixed on something else in the distance, before eventually clenching his fists in celebration and running towards Neymar and the rest of his teammates to celebrate the goal.
Neymar's penalty cranked up the Brazilian pressure even further, with outstanding goals from Richarlison and Paqueta later completing the first half onslaught
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