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Neymar
The Brazilian team knocked out their South Korean counterparts and qualified for the quarter-finals after winning four goals to one.
In less than 36 minutes into the match, the Samba team crushed its opponent, leading by four clear goals, which ended any hope of South Korea’s qualification to the quarterfinals in the first half of the match .
Brazil’s goals were scored by Vinicius, Neymar, Richarlison and Pagueta.
But the Korean team caught their breath in the second half and unleashed lightning and dangerous attacks on the Brazilian goal: Baek Sung Ho managed to hit a missile from 30 meters from outside the area, unaware of the Brazilian goalkeeper, and the ball settled in the corner of the door.
Croatia also qualified for the quarterfinals after defeating Japan on penalties.
And the tie dominated with goal after goal in regular time and in extra time.
Japan had qualified from Group E with two wins over Spain and Germany, while Croatia progressed to the round of 16 after finishing second in Group F behind Morocco.
Ivan Perisic’s pressure on Japanese defender Tomiyasu managed to carry out the first serious attack on the Japanese shooter.
But the Japanese’s reaction was fierce, as he had three attacks on Levakovic’s goal, one of which resulted in a first-half progress goal from Daisen Maeda.
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“Japan were by far the better team,” ex-England player Jermaine Jenas told the BBC. “I really enjoyed watching them for 45 minutes. So far they absolutely deserve the lead.”
In the second half, Luka Modric – the captain of Croatia, playing his 16th match in the history of the World Cup – had to lead his team to show the state of the team, so it was Perisic’s header that hit the goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda in the 56th minute.
And Perisic, who was a star of the match, and a Tottenham Hotspur player, is one of only four players to have scored at least one goal in their participation in the last three World Cups, alongside Xherdan Shakirai, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Then Real Madrid player Modric (38) hit a powerful ball which was skilfully saved by the Japanese goalkeeper, and it looked as if the 12th seed, according to the FIFA rankings, had established their dominance over time.
It seemed that the match was going into extra time, with the last minutes of the game characterized by the calm of the two teams.
And after the end of regular time, former England defender Rio Ferdinand told BBC Radio: ‘Japan need to raise the bar in the two extra periods as the team seemed to be afraid to cross into the center of the pitch. , they should change the game plan.”
Veteran Luka Modric left the field minutes after the start of the first overtime.
And Perezic struck again, receiving a cross, but the Japanese block prevented the goal from being threatened.
Kaoru Mitoma responded with a powerful shot that nearly scored, before the end of the first extra period, were it not for goalkeeper Levakovic.
Prudence dominated the performance of the two teams, even if the Japanese preferred the counter-attack option.
But there was no change in the result and the match went to a penalty shootout.
During the execution of the penalty shootout, the Samurai team missed three kicks to grant passage to the quarterfinals for Croatia, who missed in just one kick.
BBC Radio’s Jermaine Jenas praised Croatian goalkeeper Levakovic, who saved many balls, including three penalties, as he took his country to the quarter-finals.
