World Cup 2018: 3 reasons why Brazil won vs Costa Rica

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Never doubt Brazil. The Seleção looked like they were going to be held for the 2nd time this World Cup but Philippe Coutinho popped up in the 91st minute to hand them the lead.

The Costa Rican hearts were broken and despite their attempt to quickly go down the other end and score, Brazil won the ball and the kept possession until the very end. Neymar and co were toying around with the opponents and then the PSG star sealed the match by scoring another one with the last kick of the game.

Despite conceding two, Keylor Navas should be proud of his performance and not drop his head. The defeat knocked the central Americal side out of the tournament but they played well in both the games.

Here are three things Brazil did right vs Costa Rica:

#3 Substitutions were spot on

Tite switched Willian for Douglas Costa at halftime and that turned out to be one of his best decisions. The Juventus star was dominating the right flank and was giving the Costa Rican defenders a tough time.

Willian was able to get behind them and put in some good crosses but that wasn't enough to get them past Keylor Navas. His shots were flying way over the bar and that was making things more difficult for the Seleção.

Neymar and Jesus were doing a lot for the team but they were just not getting the support from Willian. Douglas Costa's introduction gave then a fresh life and they had possession of the ball around the Costa Rican box all the time. Fagner supported him well and the fact that Costa was cutting in and shooting with his left foot gave little to no time for the defenders to react.

With the deadlock still not broken, Tite sent Firmino on for Paulinho. That changed the dynamics of the game and Brazil were all over Costa Rica. Keylor Navas was the only one keeping them in the game after that but he too was eventually beaten when the defenders failed to clear the ball and Coutinho notched in from 5 yards out!

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