Brazil 2-0 Mexico: Neymar rounds off slick move to tap in opener before teeing up Roberto Firmino late on as Tite's side cruise into quarter-finals
- First half ended goalless with Mexico on top in the early going before Brazil grew into the game as it wore on
- Neymar then broke the deadlock shortly after half-time, tapping home Willian's cross from close range
- Brazilian striker had started the move with lovely backheel to free up the Chelsea winger on left flank
- Neymar reacted theatrically after Miguel Layun appeared to press boot into his ankle but there was no caution
- Roberto Firmino then scored late on to confirm victory after Neymar burst clear down the right to tee him up
Before the game’s distance was run, there was one of those acts of theatre from Neymar which stand between him and true greatness.
And it may leave many struggling to feel very much love if Brazil’s ominous advance towards a World Cup final yields them football’s ultimate prize.
They led by a goal that he had created and finished when, midway through the second half, Miguel Layun’s right foot rested on his right shin when retrieving the ball on the touchline.
Neymar was given a ride on the shoulders of Paulinho after the striker opened the scoring shortly after half-time
Roberto Firmino came off the bench for Philippe Coutinho and made an impact after ghosting in at the back post
The Liverpool forward scored the second goal of the game to put the contest to bed with a simple finish from close range
Neymar provided the assist after bursting clear down the right before hitting an early ball into Firmino's path
The Spanish fourth official, Antonio Mateu, was close enough to find no fault, yet Neymar tumbled away to his right in an act of melodrama which took four minutes to conclude. Mercifully, no one saw the need to involve VAR. The Mexican coach, Juan Carlos Osorio, launched into a quite understandable attack on Neymar’s gamesmanship.
‘It’s a shame we wasted so much time for one player,’ he said. ‘The game stopped for four minutes and that’s very negative for football. It’s a man’s sport and there shouldn’t be so much acting.’
The controversy descended to low farce when Neymar arrived, as man of the match, to discuss the game and Brazilian journalists proceeded to frame questions to him about Osorio’s comments as an example of ‘a loser’s whining’.
Manager Tite refused to let Neymar discuss Osorio’s comments because ‘athletes talk to athletes, manager talks to manager’. When the delicate flower in question was asked by the Brazilians if he sensed ‘an attempt to undermine you’, he was willing to answer.
The Brazil forward had scored the opener from a similar position having started and finished a slick move
The Selecao fans in the crowd went wild for their superstar after he put Tite's team in control of the tie
‘It is an attempt to undermine me. Before the last match, I didn’t speak to the press much. There would be people getting excited. Maybe they are showing off.’ It was deeply unattractive stuff, which ran against the grain of the No 10’s genuine piece of theatre — the sublime way in which he created and completed a 55th-minute goal which essentially won the match for Brazil.
A moment’s vision was all it took. Brazil were already moving up the gears — driven on by the game’s outstanding player, Willian — when Neymar showed his capacity to see the game in different dimensions.
Taking the ball across the edge of Mexico’s area, he was aware of Willian arriving into space behind him, backheeled to him and spun away. He was in the six-yard box to slide home the Chelsea man’s returning cross. Yet the Mexico manager’s claim Neymar’s histrionics had taken the ‘pace’ out of the game and ruined his team’s tempo was pushing things.
Gabriel Jesus (right) nearly managed to get a boot on it but fortunately Neymar was on hand to score the opener
Neymar looked to be reaching some of his best form and looked a constant threat for Brazil, tormenting the defence
At full stretch Neymar managed to redirect the ball into the net after Guillermo Ochoa had been beaten by the cross
#MEX have been knocked out of the #WorldCup Round of 16 seven times in a row:
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
bbc.in/2Ks90OD#bbcworldcup #BRAMEX
Miguel Layun appeared to stand on Neymar's ankle and the Brazil striker reacted incredibly theatrically on the ground
On the sidelines by the dugout a number of players and officials surrounded Neymar who clutched his leg
Round of 16
Quarter-
Finals
Semi-Finals
FRA
FT
4 - 3
ARG
URU
FT
2 - 1
POR
BRZ
FT
2 - 0
MEX
BEL
FT
3 - 2
JPN
SPA
AET
(3)1 - 1(4)
RUS
CRO
AET
(3)1 - 1(2)
DEN
SWE
3 July 22:00
-
SWI
COL
4 July 02:00
-
ENG
URU
6 July 22:00
-
FRA
BRZ
7 July 02:00
-
BEL
RUS
8 July 02:00
-
CRO
QF7
7 July 22:00
-
QF8
SF1
11 July 02:00
-
SF2
SF3
12 July 02:00
-
SF4
Final
FN1
15 July 23:00
-
FN2
Third Place
PO1
14 July 22:00
-
PO2
Progressing beyond the last 16 to the elusive quinto partido (‘the fifth game’) has become a painful national obsession for a nation which has now fallen at this stage in seven consecutive World Cups.
But after 20 minutes of energetic pressing in oppressive heat and brief success in exploiting an apparent weakness — right back Fagner — they found the game drifting away from them.
There was quality supply from Andres Guardado and Carlos Vela but Javier Hernandez, who lasted less than an hour, was anonymous.
Tite's side were never forced to get into top gear but the move of the match ended up producing a goal
Gabriel Jesus leaps high to plant a head on the ball in front of Hugo Ayala in sweltering conditions in Samara
Willian fends off the challenge of Edson Alvarez as the Brazilian winger keeps possession for his side in midfield
Neymar draws the attention of two defenders as he looks to show his skill and escape from the challenges
He was kept at bay by a defensively strong Brazil. They allowed Mexico just one shot on goal. Willian is everywhere in the team, dropping deep to support the full backs and somehow driving into the area. ‘Sometimes he suffers,’ Tite said last night. ‘He does have to do a lot.’
It’s not a cavalier Brazil side, driving through opponents at will in vast, billowing moves — but it is one capable of killing teams at a stroke. Do not be surprised if Gabriel Jesus — ‘a truck of a player’ as his manager described him last night — still emerges as one of the tournament’s stand-out players. He provided the first half’s outstanding moment — faking to shoot, then driving past Guardado and Edson Alvarez to draw a sharp save from Guillermo Ochoa.
Neymar matched him in the skill stakes in the second half. First-time control with his studs and a first-time shot inches wide: the game was always in the No 10’s gift. He helped finished it, too, taking a ball that substitute Fernandinho had won back, driving into the area with it and crossing for Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, another substitute, to tap in. Tite said in the aftermath that Neymar was ‘improving’ when it came to histrionics. ‘You waste your energy on things which are not to do with the play. You lose your focus,’ he admitted.
You lose admirers, too, even when you’re playing for the nation who look like they will take some beating.
Filipe Luis was shown a yellow card by referee Gianluca Rocchi for an overzealous challenge in the first half
Philippe Coutinho vents his frustration after blazing a shot high over the bar as Alvarez takes a breather on the turf
There was a friendly atmosphere between both sets of supporters packed inside the stadium for the last 16 clash
Brazil and Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro heads the ball to safety away from Andres Guardado who was competing with him
The Brazil players celebrated at full time after knocking out Mexico to progress to the quarter-finals
