Carlos Casemiro scored the only goal for Brazil as the South American giants beat Switzerland in their second match of the FIFA World Cup on Sunday night and secured their place in the tournament’s Round of 16 with two wins from two games.
Following the match played at Doha’s Stadium 974, Brazil are now top of the points table in Group G with six points from two matches. Switzerland are right behind them with three points, while Serbia and Cameroon have a point each after their thrilling 3-3 draw earlier in the day.
Brazil headed to this match without their main star Neymar who sustained a blow to his ankle in their World Cup opener. Tite’s men felt the absence of Neymar throughout the match.
It was assumed that a Brazil team without Neymar would not win a match easily against an opponent like Switzerland.
Vinicius Jr won a free kick early in the match. He was running unopposed down the left flank. All of a sudden, he was stopped by only a Swiss foul. Richarlison, the hero of Brazil’s first win, took the free kick that passed over everyone.
Legendary Brazilian striker RonaldoI, as well as Cafu and Roberto Carlos, the best-ever fullback pairing for the Selecao, all of them World Cup winners in 2002, were seen in the gallery of the 974 stadium. That might have inspired Brazilian supporters to come in full voice in the gallery. The Swiss supporters were outnumbered in this match in the venue.
Richarlison ran well behind the Swiss defense. In the 14th minute of the match, Paqueta fed him with an outside of the boot flick, but Richarlison failed to reach Vinicius Jr in the middle. It was a really lovely piece of play from the men of Tite.
After a few minutes into the game, Switzerland had a good platform in the center of the pitch after a foul by Casemiro. They took a free kick that was not strong enough to reach Brazil’s net. Switzerland were a bit wasteful whenever they reached Brazil’s half.
Brazil were slightly better than Switzerland in the first half of the game. But the Swiss also grew into the game.
Coming into the second half of the match, Brazil got brighter and they kept attacking relentlessly.
In the 66th minute, Vinicius Jr looked like he put Brazil in front with a neat finish, but his strike was ruled out for an offside in the build-up. Brazil did not stop there. They eventually scored in the 83rd minute when the ball fell to Casemiro inside the box and the midfielder lashed home an audacious first-time finish with the outside of his boot.
The goal came as a sigh of relief for the Brazilians as they managed to get over the line in this game, leaving nothing to chance in their remaining group game, for which Neymar will again be missing. The Paris Saint Germain star is expected to be fighting to be fit for the knockout phase games.
