World Cup Daily: Brazil reminds competition of just how dominant they can be

After every matchday of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Sportsnet.ca’s World Cup Daily weblog will recap the day’s occasions and sit up for the following day’s slate of video games.                

Here’s what occurred on Monday in Qatar, in case you missed it…                

THE RESULTS                

Japan 1, Croatia 1 (Croatia wins 3-1 in shootout) in Al Wakrah: Match report || Match stats 

Brazil 4, South Korea 1 in Doha: Match report || Match stats 

Quarter-finals matchup: Croatia vs. Brazil in Al Rayyan (Dec. 9 at 10:00 a.m. ET)   

MAIN TALKING POINTS                

Brazil dances into the quarter-finals 

Brazil’s gamers danced early and so they danced typically. Four occasions after every objective, to be precise, with every celebration routine that includes extra elaborate choreography than its predecessor. A seaside get together broke out on the stainless grass pitch inside Doha’s Stadium 974 on Monday, because the Brazilians sambaed their option to a 4-1 win over South Korea. 

Brazil hadn’t actually damaged out in Qatar up up to now. Sure, there have been occasions once they produced moments of the joga bonito for which they’ve grow to be well-known. But these moments got here in flashes, and have been few and much between. Finally, the South Americans gave the individuals – not simply their supporters however impartial followers across the globe – what they needed to see: A trademark Brazilian win that highlighted the staff’s finest attacking qualities and talent to provide targets of the best creative calibre. 

Save for Neymar’s penalty conversion, every objective was a masterpiece, concurrently rhythmic and ruthless, because the South Koreans had no reply as to easy methods to cease the Brazilian tsunami. Lucas Paquetá’s fourth objective for Brazil on the day, off a setup by the incandescent Vinícius Júnior, primarily killed off the sport within the thirty sixth minute. 

Minor doubts about Brazil’s standing because the event favorite started to linger after a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in its group stage finale. But supervisor Tite fielded a “B team,” resting his high stars with a spot within the knockout spherical already secured. The Brazilian coach held nothing again on this recreation, as he made 10 adjustments to his beginning lineup, and introduced the large weapons off the bench, together with veteran Neymar who missed out on the final two video games whereas nursing an ankle harm. 

The end result was a bloodbath. Brazil put forth one of the dominant performances on the World Cup in current reminiscence, whereas sending a not-so-gentle reminder to the remainder of the sector that they’re the staff to beat as we enter the business finish of this event in Qatar.

The joyous marvel that’s Ivan Perišić 

Japan regarded as if it was going to proceed to tear by means of this World Cup like a tsunami after taking a 1-0 lead within the forty third minute on Monday. Having upset Germany and Spain within the group stage, the Japanese had their sights set on including Croatia to their listing of victims. But Ivan Perišić had different concepts, netting the equalizer early within the second half to get his nation again into the sport. The Croatians ultimately emerged victorious by way of a penalty shootout after a tedious 120 minutes of regulation and further time, thanks in no small half to Perišić’s second of inspiration. 

With Croatia in determined want of an equalizer, Dejan Lovren hit a hopeful cross from the best wing into Japan’s penalty space for Perišić. The Croatian winger was 14 yards out from objective, however he in some way generated sufficient energy together with his header that it nestled contained in the far backside nook of the online previous sprawling Japanese goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda. 

Perišić has now scored extra targets for Croatia’s males’s staff at World Cups and European Championships than every other Croatia participant (10). Incredibly, the Tottenham star has been concerned in 10 targets in 14 World Cup matches (six targets and 4 assists) since making his event debut in 2014. To put these numbers into context, solely Lionel Messi (eight targets and 4 assists) and Kylian Mbappé (9 targets and two assists) have been extra productive on the event throughout the identical time span. 

GOAL OF THE DAY                

A luxurious attacking sequence by Brazil started with Richarlison juggling the ball together with his head whereas being surrounded by three South Korean gamers and ended with the Tottenham ahead slotting dwelling off a tic-tac-toe passing play from eight yards out. 

MOMENT OF THE DAY                

QUOTE OF THE DAY                

“It’s more an instinct than an analysis of the penalty takers … I don’t think that these penalties were too difficult to defend, [but] they shoot very hard.” – Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković on his three saves within the penalty shootout vs. Japan. 

SIX PACK OF STATS                

• Ivan Perišić is now tied with Davor Šuker as Croatia’s all-time main scorer on the World Cup (six targets).      

• Croatia’s Dominik Livakovic is the third goalkeeper to make three saves in a single penalty shootout on the males’s World Cup after Portugal’s Ricardo in 2006 (vs. England) and countryman Danijel Subasic in 2018 (vs. Denmark).         

• Each of the final six penalty shootouts on the males’s World Cup have been received by the aspect capturing second.          

• Neymar is the third Brazilian male participant to attain in three completely different editions of the World Cup, alongside Ronaldo and Pelé.          

• This is simply the second time Brazil’s males’s staff has scored 4 targets within the opening half of a World Cup match since a 5-0 win over Mexico in 1954.  

• Thiago Silva (38 years and 74 days) is the oldest males’s participant to document an help on the World Cup since Roger Milla for Cameroon in 1990 (38 years and 42 days).   

Stats courtesy of Opta                

THREE STARS OF THE DAY                

1) Vinícius Júnior (Brazil): The Real Madrid star opened the scoring together with his first objective of the event after which tallied an help on Brazil’s fourth objective of the day earlier than halftime to cap on an emphatic win over South Korea. 

2) Dominik Livaković (Croatia): The veteran goalkeeper got here up large within the penalty shootout, making three saves on Japan to ship his staff by means of to the quarter-finals. 

3) Neymar (Brazil): After lacking the final two group stage video games with an ankle harm, the PSG man bagged his first objective of this World Cup by changing from the penalty spot and tallied an help. 

LOOKING AHEAD TO TUESDAY                

The spherical of 16 wraps up tomorrow with two marquee matchups, beginning with Morocco taking over Spain (10:00 a.m. ET). Morocco was one of many shock packages of the primary spherical because it received its group forward of Belgium and Croatia, however a round-of-16 showdown with Spain represents its hardest problem up to now in Qatar. The late recreation sees Portugal tackle Switzerland (2:00 p.m. ET). The Swiss aren’t precisely flashy, however they discover methods to grind out outcomes, whereas Bruno Fernandes has been Portugal’s finest participant and among the many finest midfielders at this World Cup with a pair of targets. 

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John Molinaro is among the main soccer journalists in Canada, having lined the sport for over 20 years for a number of media retailers, together with Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is at present the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, an internet site devoted to in-depth protection of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic could be discovered right here.