DOHA: Five-time champions Brazil handed a hammering 4-1 defeat to South Korea as they stormed through the quarter-finals of the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022. Following their qualification, Brazil will now take on last world cup’s runners-up in the quarters, who edged Japan on penalties to progress into the last eight.

Tournament favourites Brazil sent a strong message to their rivals as they displayed ruthless domination to halt South Korea’s dream run. Vinicius Jr opened the scoring for Brazil in just the seventh minute when Raphinha sprinted away from Kim Jin-su on the right and cut the ball perfectly to the feet of well-positioned Vinicius, who calmly sent the ball crashing into the nets. Returning from the injury, Brazil’s star Neymar Jr then soon doubled his side’s lead over toothless South Korea after Jung Woo-young fouled Richarlison in the box and Neymar positioned his penalty strike to perfection.

Just before the half-hour mark, Richarlison initiated to press and displayed incredible skills to dribble past the Korean defender before passing to Marquinhos, who in turn played the ball to Thiago Silva. He then played through Richarlison, who finished in style to put Brazil in complete control. Minutes later, Lucas Paqueta made it 4-0 for Brazil as Richarlison carried the ball forward from deep before finding Neymar, who in turn played to Vinicius. He then pulled the ball back across the face of the goal for the upcoming Paqueta, who finished magnificently.

The Brazilian attack seemed to have eased out in the second half as they made several substitutions including Neymar and goalkeeper Alisson Becker; allowing struggling South Korea to pull one back courtesy of Paik Seung-ho’s 76th-minute strike but it was too late for the Asian side to trigger a late twist. It was Brazil’s most dominating triumph in world cup knockouts since 1998 as they scored four goals for the first time since then.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 07 2022

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