World Cup 2018: 3 things we learned as Brazil beat Costa Rica

Brazil managed to stay afloat in the World Cup by beating Costa Rica 2-0 with the help of 2 injury-time goals by Coutinho and Neymar. Coutinho broke the deadlock with an opportunistic strike in the 92nd minute and Neymar increased the tally in the 96th minute.

Before that, Brazil had dominated the game but did not succeed in finding the elusive goal. Gabriel Jesus hit the woodwork with his header and Neymar and Coutinho had their shots saved by Keylor Navas, the Costa Rican goalkeeper.

Just when it seemed that match was veering towards a draw, Coutinho found the net and turned things around.

Brazil now have 4 points from 2 matches. Costa Rica bowed out of the tournament after losing both their matches.

Brazil had around 70 percent ball possession and more than 15 shots on goal. Still they found it very difficult to breach the dour Costa Rican defence led by the formidable Navas.

Here are 3 things we learnt from the match.

#1 Neymar is one of the best players in the world indeed

Neymar was omnipresent in the match against Costa Rica. He cut in from the wings, created moves from the centre of the pitch, fell back to his own half to regain possession and in the end scored.

There was considerable pressure on him to perform and it certainly did not help when his shot missed the goal by a whisker in the 72nd minute. Moreover, he managed to earn a penalty in the 80th minute only for it to be cancelled by VAR.

Still he remained unperturbed and continued his pursuit for the elusive goal. He should have had an assist too, but Gabriel Jesus blasted his pass over the bar.

Neymar finally earned his salvation by tapping in a cross from Douglas Costa in the dying minutes of the game. His performance is an ominous sign for all of Brazil’s prospective opponents.