Brazil step up confidence to KO Serbs
Brazil eased into the last 16 of the World Cup with a 2-0 win over a combative but limited Serbia in their Group E decider last night.
It was from from fluent at times, but goals from Paulinho and Thiago Silva were a fair return on their best performance at Russia 2018 so far.
Brazilian coach Tite said: “We don’t live off expectations, we live off reality. It’s a team that’s growing strong in the competition mentally, taking the pressure with a good performance on the pitch.
“In terms of the emotion of the team, there is still more togrow.Comparatively speaking, they have grown in those three matches. From here, it is only up.”
The opener came on 36 minutes with a surging run through the middle by Paulinho and the perfect pass to find him by Philippe Coutinho. Paulinho only had to toe-end past the onrushing Vladimir Stojkovic. Paulinho said: “We took another step – we wanted to qualify and we managed to do so.” Brazil’s two tall stoppers combined to double the lead on 68 minutes. A corner from the left saw a tumbling Miranda clear a path for Thiago Silva to head home. Serbian boss Mladen Krstajic said: “We were on the front foot in the first half, apart from the situation that led to the first goal by Brazil.
“These are moments where the individual quality of players can be taken advantage of.
“In the second half, we tried to play with more risk, we had opportunities to equalise but we missed our chances and were punished. I have to congratulate Brazil and I have to congratulate my players for the efforts that they put in, and the sacrifices that they made.”