Brazil beat Costa Rica 2-0 in Group E matchPhilippe Coutinho and Neymar come to the rescue for Brazil as both strike in the injury time to help the five-time champions register their first victory in the 2018 World Cup.Neymar also joins the party in the injury time, strikes to put Brazil 2-0 ahead.Philippe Coutinho scores to give Brazil 1-0 lead.Six minutes of injury time addedNavas gets injured after saving Neymar's cross in the dying moments of the match.Four minutes to go with both teams still looking to break the deadlock.Coutinho goes for a shot from 25 yards, but his strikes was blocked by Gonzalez.Acosta of Costa Rica gets the yellow card.Tejedareplaces Guzman for Costa Rica.Neymar tries to apply trick after Gonzalez puts his arm on him. Referee takes VAR help and clears the Costa Rican, Brazil not awarded the penalty.' Substitution for Costa Rica. Christian Gamboa leaves the field, Francisco Calvo comes in.Neymar misses a big opportunity to put Brazil ahead, he snatches the ball from Costa Rica's Gamboa near outside the box but his shot goes wide of the target.Neymar takes the right corner and Casemiro's header goes straight into the heads of Navas.Another substitution for Brazil. Paulinho is off the field, Firmino joins the team for the rest of the match.Free kick for Costa Rica.Neymar's left-footed shot from outside the box goes straight into the hands of Navas, who fumbles a bit to collect the ball.Neymar with the counter attack, dribbles the ball with three defenders and sends in a brilliant pass and his teammate fails to control it.Brazil is looking different team altogether in the second half. Philippe Coutinho fires a straight shot and Costa Rica keeper Navas makes no mistake to save it.Substitution for Costa Rica. Urena makes way for Bolanos.Poor delivery from Marcelo inside the box as his shot finds no player.Nothing going in Brazil's way but they come all guns blazing in the second half. Gabriel Jesus beats Navas this time but his header hits the bar. Lucky survival for Costa Rica.Marcelo's long pass from the left near the top of the box intercepted by Costa Rican player.Douglas Costa replaces Willian for Brazil.Brazil had more of the possession and more of the shots but they could not turn their dominance into goals as the first half of their second World Cup Group E match with Costa Rica ended 0-0.Brazil 0-0 Costa RicaOne minute of injury time addedKeylor Navas is keeping himself busy to frustrate Brazil.First corner of the match and it goes Brazil's way. Willian sends in from the right, Paulinho slips in the box and the danger averted for Costa Rica.Brazil's Willian gets inside from the right flank to shoot on his left. His effort goes wide of the post.Coutinho gets another chance to open Brazil's account, but his attempt sails over the post.Coutinho takes a brilliant pass on the top of the Costa Rica defence, but his poor touch helps Navas stop the ball.Disappointment for Brazil. Gabriel Jesus controls Marcelo's pass beautifully and nets into the goal. But it was given offside, hence the goal is disallowed.Costa Rica's Gamboa had another effort from the right flank and Venegas gets the header in the box. Brazilian defence manages to save it.Another free kick awarded to Brazil and Neymar fails to capitalise on it, his over hit was easily taken by Keylor Navas.Neymar takes his second free-kick of the match, this time from the left flank, but the result remains the same as Costa Rica defence again deny their opponents from taking the lead.This could be the moment of the match. Gamboa displays exceptional work from the right flank but Borges puts his effort wide of the post.Casemiro is off the field for his treatment for a nosebleed.Brazil get the free-kick. Neymar goes for it and hits it from the right flank. Costa Rican defence is alert enough to avert the danger as Gonzalez clears the ball.Costa Rica's Urena finds Bryan Ruiz's long pass but Thiago Silva tackles the forward to deny his challenge.Brazil had two chances early in the game. Bryan Ruiz loses the ball on the edge of the box and Philippe Coutinho's shot goes flies high over the goal post.Referee blows the whistle and the Group E match between Brazil and Costa Rica gets underway at Saint Petersburg Stadium.Players are out on the field and it's time for national anthem.Alisson Becker, Fagner, Thiago Silva (capt), Joao Miranda, Marcelo; Casemiro, Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho; Willian, Gabriel Jesus, NeymarTiteKeylor Navas; Cristian Gamboa, Johnny Acosta, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Oscar Duarte, Bryan Oviedo (capt); Celso Borges, David Guzman, Bryan Ruiz; Johan Venegas, Marcos UrenaOscar RamirezNeymar will start Brazil's crunch World Cup clash with Costa Rica on Friday as coach Tite kept faith in the side that started a disappointing 1-1 draw to open their campaign against Switzerland.Corinthians right-back Fagner replaced the injured Danilo in Brazil's only change.There had been concerns over Neymar's fitness after he limped out of training on Tuesday, two days after receiving rough treatment from the Swiss.However, Tite insisted on the eve of the game he wasn't running a risk by handing the world's most expensive player just his second competitive start for four months after his club season was ended in February by a broken bone in his right foot.Costa Rica also made just one change from their 1-0 defeat by Serbia with former Everton full-back Bryan Oviedo replacing Francisco Calvo on the left side of a five-man defence.Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the Group E match between Brazil and Costa Rica of the 2018 World Cup at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Russia.
Five-time World Cup winners Brazil will aim to achieve their first victory of the 2018 tournament when they play Costa Rica in Saint Petersburg.
Neymar and Co were held 1-1 by Switzerland in their opening Group E fixture at the weekend and need three points to move a step closer to the knockout rounds.
Join ADAM SHERGOLD for live coverage of the match, with build-up getting underway at 11am UK time.
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Brazil looked headed for another draw in the World Cup group stage until its biggest stars came alive late. Tied 0-0 with Costa Rica in the 90th minute, Brazil scored two goals in added time to win 2-0 on the boots of Philippe Coutinho and Neymar. Coutinho got the winner in the 91st minute, and Neymar got his goal later in stoppage time as the South Americans move to four points in Group F and have a little breathing room with one match to play. It felt like it would be a similar result to the opening draw against Switzerland where the ball just didn't want to go in for the Brazilians as Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas did a fine job of keeping them at bay for 90 minutes, but the six added minutes proved to be too much to handle.
Here's the goal from Coutinho, which came off a fine header from Roberto Firmino:
Coutinho does it again!
He toe pokes it past Keylor Navas to put Brazil up 1-0 late in the game. pic.twitter.com/RLR8GFRHY5 — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 22, 2018
Neymar scored his first goal of the cup moments later, as Brazil produced at least a small amount of positive vibes in a cup where South America has really struggled.
Beside Uruguay, no other South American team had won a match until Brazil did so on Friday.
Brazil outshot Costa Rica 23 to 4 over the course of the match with nine on target to zero for the CONCACAF squad.
Neymar and company could see themselves end the day in second place in the group if Serbia beats Switzerland later, but for now, Brazil moves into first and greatly boosts its chances of moving on to the knockout stage.
Brazil (vs. Serbia) and Costa Rica (vs. Switzerland) will both be looking for a win in their final group stage match. Both play on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, but only Brazil can get out of the group, not Costa Rica. With a match still to be played between Serbia and Switzerland, it is unknown just yet what position Brazil will be playing for. You can watch all the World Cup action, including those final Group E games, on fuboTV (Try for free).
Brazil vs. Costa Rica score, live updates
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By contrast Tite had stuck with largely the same personnel yet turned them into a coherent whole. Renato Augusto, a 2016 Olympic gold medallist, was already in Dunga’s side but has been transformed into a deep-lying playmaker in the Andrea Pirlo mode by Tite who used him there for Corinthians. During four seasons at Bayer Leverkusen, he played behind the strikers but in this withdrawn role he dictates the tempo and runs the game. Behind him sat Casemiro or Fernandinho and to his right the recalled Paulinho. These three roles were the heart of the new Brazil, a holder, a playmaker and a box-to-box raider just as Ralf, Jadson and Elias drove Corinthians on. With Neymar to the left, Philippe Coutinho or Willian on the right and Gabriel Jesus or Roberto Firmino through the middle they have the flexibility to spring from 4-1-4-1 to 4-3-3 and, with Paulinho’s lung-bursting runs, something approaching the 4-2-4 that makes the heart sing. But against Switzerland Tite dropped Renato Augusto, moved Coutinho into midfield from where he scored a terrific goal. The change, however, left the side unbalance and the motor clogged up, piddle in the petrol tank.
Brazil do not have midfielders of Gerson’s quality or Socrates’ or Falcao’s, but Tite did have a functioning system in which the players understood their assignments and had the confidence to trust the coach’s judgment. Last March Paulinho scored a hat-trick in a 1-4 victory over Uruguay in Montevideo arriving each time with the judicious timing of a player who reads the game fluently. As we saw at the typically bombastic Barcelona unveiling in August, Paulinho may not be able to execute pointless tricks with precision but stick him in a match and he plays with poise and intelligence.
In addition Tite had addressed the reliance on Neymar by sometimes, paraphrasing Barry Davies’ immortal line, “using him by not using him”. “The collective empowers the individual,” the coach says. “If the ball arrives to Neymar, they mark [him], but the other side is more exposed. Coutinho creates chances. Enter Fagner, enter Paulinho. We take Neymar to one side, let him be isolated and make room for another.” You can tell by the tears when Tite praised him last week and pledged his support, that Neymar, caricatured as a prima donna, is anything but in a canary shirt. Note that the collective ‘empowers the individual’ but only to serve the collective and Neymar buys into this.
Brazil have to get back to that today and could begin by using the system that transformed their fortunes over the past two years. The World Cup is no place for experimentation and stroking the egos of nine-figure transfer-fee talents.
