Late surge sends Brazil through
It wasn’t exactly Brazilliant, but the mission was ultimately successfully completed.
After the 90 minutes of regulation time, the score line read: Brazil 0 – Costa Rica 0.
But seven minutes later the story had transformed to Brazil 2 – Costa Rica 0.
It was a strange outcome. Brazil had clearly been the superior side throughout the first half, enjoying 70 percent of the possession, but Los Ticos had been as stubborn as mules in protecting their turf.
Added to that, Brazil failed to even hit the target on more than 20 occasions – the biggest culprit being Neymar, who enjoyed a surfeit of ball on the left flank.
But he seemed more intent on winning free kicks by fair means or foul, and alternated between sending over decent and dismal crosses.
Chelsea’s Willian on his opposite wing hardly got a look in, while Philippe Coutinho of Barcelona looked most likely to make inroads for Brazil, who upped the tempo in the second half but without looking convincingly like scoring.
Striding out with purpose, they forced Costa Rica to load the defence, and for long periods there was not one single player in Brazil’s half of the field.
Conversely, Costa Rican keeper Keylor Navas was kept busy all day and the Real Madrid stopper was forced into plenty of saves.
The irritating Neymar – a mixture of awesome talent and nauseating petulance – was awarded a penalty in the 77th minute as he zoomed in on goal and was ‘pulled back’ by the defender.
The ref awarded the spot kick but VAR disagreed and overruled him.
Serves Neymar right for the amateur dramatics. Had he looked for a goal rather than a penalty, he probably would have scored.
He did eventually tuck one away in the 97th minute after the rock solid Coutinho had given Brazil the goal they needed and deserved in the 91st minute.
Brazil are not yet guaranteed a last 16 spot after their earlier 1-1 draw with Switzerland, but for Costa Rica it’s bye-bye time.
Viva Nigeria, Viva!
Nigeria were ‘two’ good for Iceland in their vital Group D encounter on Friday evening.
There was little to choose between the two sides in the first 45, with Nigeria shading the possession and making almost double the number of passes as they strove to melt Icelandic hearts.
However, Nigeria were nowhere near direct enough and it didn’t help their cause simply not to concede; they had to score to stay in the competition.
They showed they had the capability but appeared to lack the confidence needed to take the fight to their opponents.
This they did when they came back onto the field for the second stanza.
It took just three minutes from the restart for midfielder Victor Moses to make a beautiful break down the right, his pinpoint cross superbly brought down by striker Ahmed Musa, who thrashed it home for a 1-0 lead.
Musa, currently on loan from Leicester to CSK Moscow, would have delighted the host country supporters as well as inspiring his own nation.
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Both sides kept pushing forward, with the Chelsea paring of John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses prominent in the Nigerian engine room.
The Ahmed Musa show resumed in the 74th minute as he ran round Kari Arnason and calmly picked his spot between the keeper and two defenders to make it 2-0.
VAR came into the picture again in the final 10 minutes when a Nigerian goal kick was overturned and a penalty was awarded to Iceland.
But iceman Gylfi Sigurosson failed to keep his cool and spurned the opportunity, ballooning the ball over the cross bar.
Nigeria calmly held on for a famous comeback win after losing their opener to Croatia, who top the group with six points.
Nigeria have three points while Argentina and Iceland have one each, and the trio will fight it out for the remaining last 16 place.
Swiss roll Serbia to take pole position
Switzerland became the first team in this year’s World Cup to come from a goal down when they beat Serbia 2-1 in a riveting Friday night late show.
Serbia were quickly out the blocks and Aleksandar Mitrovic had a header saved but a minute later nailed another one to put the Serbs ahead 1-0 in the 5th minute.
The big, old fashioned striker, who plays his club football for Fulham (on loan from Newcastle) used his height and power to good advantage to make the early statement of intent as his side continued to press.
In fact, the first Swiss effort on target only came in the 30th when Blerim Dzemaili came close to equalising.
With plenty at stake the game was a tense one, therefore always a bit frantic with hurried shots and clearances.
The situation called for some calm heads and it was Switzerland who obliged after the break, stringing patient passes together and not forcing the pace.
They were rewarded in the 51st minute when Xherden Shaqiri’s attempt was blocked and the ball rebounded to Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka, who rasped his shot home from outside the box to tie the contest at 1-1.
Man of the match Shaqiri with his fast feet and low centre of gravity was always a tough man to dispossess and two minutes minutes later whipped in a stunning left footer that grazed the left post
He was not to be denied his moment of glory and with regular time expired he ran half the length of the field, outpaced the sole Serbian defender and slid the ball under the advancing keeper for a 2-1 lead they were able to hold onto as the heavens opened.
Switzerland ‘reigned’ as the final whistle blew and now share top spot with Brazil on four points each.
Serbia have three, but must face Brazil in their last Group E fixture while the Swiss take on pointless Costa Rica and are in pole position to go through to the knockout stage.
Today’s fixtures
