Brazil scores late to beat Costa Rica
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (TNS) – Philippe Coutinho and Neymar scored injury-time goals to help Brazil beat Costa Rica 2-0 Friday at the World Cup.
Coutinho poked the ball past goalkeeper Keylor Navas in the first minute of injury time, and Neymar volleyed in another with virtually the last kick of the game six minutes later.
Neymar then broke down in tears and sobbed for several moments. His teammates helped him off the ground to celebrate.
It had looked like Brazil, after drawing its opening game 1-1 with Switzerland, was heading for another stalemate.
Brazil attacked relentlessly in the second half and was awarded a penalty in the 78th when Neymar was impeded as he cut inside defender Giancarlo Gonzalez. But referee Bjorn Kuipers went over to look at the sideline monitor and reversed the decision.
Brazil has four points heading into its final group game against Serbia on Wednesday. Switzerland 2, Serbia 1 Switzerland scored a pair of goals in the second half, including the winner in the 90th minute, to stun Serbia and move into a tie atop the Group E standings.
Serbia, a 1-0 winner against Costa Rica in its opener, could have booked a spot into the knockout round with a win Friday, and quickly looked like it would do just that. Aleksandar Mitrovic scored to give the Serbs the lead in just the fifth minute. And for nearly 50 minutes, that tally looked like it would be enough.
But the Swiss ramped up the pressure after intermission and seven minutes into the half, evened it up on a Granit Xhaka goal. Then in the final minute before stoppage time, a streaking Xherdan Shaqiri beat goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic for the winner.
Switzerland now sits tied atop the group with Brazil, each with four points. The Swiss will conclude group play against last-place Costa Rica, needing only a point to advance. Serbia will need at least one point against Brazil to have a shot at advancing.
Nigeria 2, Iceland 0 Ahmed Musa scored twice in the second half, Iceland failed to convert a penalty kick in the final 10 minutes and Argentina’s chances at the knockout round now have a little more life.
Musa opened the scoring in the 49th minute then added another in the 75th as Nigeria picked up its first three points of this World Cup. The loss kept Iceland at one point (thanks to its tie against Argentina in the opener) and kept Argentina well in the mix for the second knockout-round berth out of Group D.
A win over Nigeria on Tuesday would at worst put Argentina in a tie for second, and if Iceland fails to beat group winner Croatia on Tuesday, Argentina would advance
with a win.
The missed penalty kick by Gylfi Sigurdsson could haunt Iceland should it tie for the second spot in the group and goal differential comes into play.