Brilliant brazil unVeil their magic
Five-time champions begin campaign with 2-0 drubbing of Serbia
THE atmosphere at the Lusail Stadium on Thursday night was simply electric. Bathed in canary yellow and packed with 90,000 spectators, the bowlshaped stadium then came aglow with one of the finest goals seen at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as Brazil’s forward Richarlison unleashed an acrobatic bicycle kick to subdue their rivals Serbia with a second goal in the Group G match.
Pandemonium broke in the Brazil camp as Richarlison was mobbed by his teammates and the bench with the entire stadium on their feet.
Brazil coach Tite hugged his coaching staff tight in delight, indicating his boys are here to display their beautiful football in legendary fashion.
The brilliance of Brazil was much expected but the way the Selecao began their campaign, it was only fitting that the game was held at the maximum capacity Lusail Stadium. Richarlison had three touches to the ball inside the penalty area and on the fabulous evening he scored two goals of them in the 62nd and 73rd minutes.
He had scored the opening goal with a one touch clearance after Brazil players broke into the ‘D’ and after Vinicius unior’s effort was parried. Richarlison grabbed the chance right in front of the goal leaving Serbia goalkeeper and players stunned.
While Serbia looked like holding good against the mighty Brazilians till the break, Brazil’s chemistry came alive after many of their shots had own past the target.
Serbia - who were without injured winger Filip Kostic and threatened sporadically - had defended stoutly up until then, although they were fortunate that Alex Sandro’s earlier shot from distance rattled the post.
But they could do nothing about Richarlison’s second as the Tottenham Hotspur striker
icked up Vinicius unior’s cross and produced an acrobatic finish into the corner of the net. Casemiro later clipped the bar.
Neymar, two goals behind Pele’s Brazil record of 77, was part of a very attacking line-up chosen by Tite but if anything they got in each other’s way initially and Neymar played too deep.
The fantastic match summed up another great day of football at the Qatar World Cup which earlier saw Cristiano Ronaldo making the record of becoming the first man to score at five FIFA World Cups as Portugal beat Ghana 3-2.
Switzerland edged Cameroon 1-0 while South Korea held Uruguay to a goalless draw.