Quarter-finals, here we come. With a first half worthy of a “Brazilian team”, Brazil secured qualification for the quarter-finals of the Qatar Cup after defeating South Korea 4-1 on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 5, at Stadium 974.
Without jokes, the team took to the field to show that the loss to Cameroon was just a bump in the road. Just six minutes in, with their first good chance, Tite’s team opened the scoring.
Raphinha received a good pass from Paquetá on the right and crossed into the area. The ball went through the entire Korean area and fell to Vinícius Júnior. The forward controlled the ball and struck it beautifully into the left corner of the goalkeeper.
The Brazilian goal startled South Korea. Four minutes later, Jung Woo-Young made a mistake and lost the ball to Richarlison. The defender ended up misfiring and hit the Brazilian player inside the area: penalty. Neymar stepped up to take the kick and, with finesse, doubled the lead.
At 28 minutes, Richarlison scored again in style. He controlled the ball with his head, juggled it, passed to Marquinhos, who touched it to Thiago Silva. The captain found the number 9 face-to-face with the goalkeeper, and the forward didn’t miss. A stunning goal, complete with a pigeon dance even performed by Tite.
At 35 minutes, Neymar launched a counter-attack and found Vinícius Júnior. The forward crossed for Paquetá to strike first-time and score Brazil’s fourth.
With the victory almost certain, the second half was lukewarm. Korea scored a consolation goal. And it was a beauty. Paik Seung-Ho took advantage of a corner kick rebound on the right and unleashed a rocket into Alisson’s left corner. But that was it. Final score: 4-1 for Brazil.
And Croatia?
The team faces Croatia at 10 AM (Eastern Time) next Friday (9) in the quarter-finals of the World Cup at the Education City Stadium.
Also on this Monday, the current vice-champions of the world (Croatia was defeated by France in the final of the 2018 World Cup in Russia) won against Japan 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regular time in the round of 16.
Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, who saved three Japanese penalties, was the hero of the qualification.
Present in six World Cups since 1998 in France, the Croatians are in the knockout stage for the third time. In the previous two occasions, in their debut and in the edition four years ago in Russia, the Eastern European country reached at least the semi-finals. In 2018, in fact, the checkered team went through three extra times and also needed penalties to defeat Denmark in the round of 16 and the host Russians in the quarter-finals.
Brazil and Croatia have faced each other only four times, twice in World Cups, with Brazil having a clear dominance, with three victories and one draw.
That is, Brazil reaches the quarter-finals as a strong favorite. But given the opponent’s history in past cups, it won’t be an easy match ahead!