Neymar led-Brazil whip past sloppy Mexico, advance to quarter-finals

Neymar scored one and assisted another as Brazil battled their way to the World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Mexico

All over for Mexico in Russia today and they can take next flight to Mexico City from Kurumoch Airport. Thanks to Neymar And Robert Firmino, Brazil advance to the quarter-finals of World Cup 2018. 

The favourites, Brazil were off-colour in the initial minutes. But they gained their composure from the very beginning of the second half. They were energetic, creative and determined which resulted in the lead from Neymar. Six minutes into the second half Neymar backheeled inside the box to Willian. Willian dodged past few defenders and drived a low ball hard towards the goal. Neymar waited for the ball at the far post and eventually pokes the ball at the back of the net from about three yards. 

Mexico started really well in the first half but one goal down, El Tri completely lost it. They have been eliminated from the World Cup at the Last 16 stage in each of the last seven tournaments (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 & 2018). 

Mexico should thank their goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who made some brilliant saves to keep Mexico in the game but cannot prevent El Tri from going out. With two minutes to go for the final, Neymar broke down the left and crossed low for Roberto Firmino to tap home and sealed the deal for the Selecao.

Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made eight saves today versus Brazil; the only player to have attempted more within 90 minutes at the 2018 World Cup is Ochoa himself, making nine saves vs Germany
 

Highlights: Mexico vs Brazil

Min 89: GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL. Substitute Firmino scores to double Brazil's lead. And this was an excellent pass by Neymar. 

Min 75: Brazil have now overtaken Germany as the top scoring team in World Cup history with 227 goals.

Trivia: Neymar has scored six goals from 38 shots in World Cup tournaments - it took Lionel Messi 67 shots and Cristiano Ronaldo 74 shots to reach this goal tally at the World Cup

Min 68: While seeking to equalise, Mexico have gone to bonkers. Whatever chances they have got they have wasted while trying to score from a distance. There has been criminal lack of passing in the final third.

Min 63: Casemiro has picked up a yellow card for his troubles.

Min 60: Final Mexico substitution: Javier Hernandez off, Raul Jimenez on.

Min 57: Mexican substitution: Jonathan Dos Santos on for right-back Edson Alvarez.

Min 50: GOOOOAAAAALLLLL. Neymar scores to give Brazil lead. Neymar backheels inside the box to Willian. Willian dodges few defenders and drives a low ball hard towards the goal. Neymar waits for the ball from far post, pokes the ball at the back of the net from about three yards.

Min 48: Neymar wins a corner off Layun and passes the ball quickly to Philippe Coutinho. Coutinho cuts inside on to his right foot and shoots from just inside the penalty area. Ochoa dives to his right and saves.
Brazil gets the game underway

Partyyyy starts again!!!!!!!

Half-Time Report: Brazil 0-0 Mexico

Both sides had their fair bit of possession and chances at the Samara Arena. But the scores are still level at the break with no goals. Mexico fans should be happy about with the manner in which their players have gone and done talking in the match.  Mexico made a bright start to the game, but till the first half Brazil upped the ante. Neymar and Jesus were denied by Ochoa. Lozano and Hernandez have been influential in the first half but not influential enough to make a breakthrough. Both teams are required to step up their game to tilt the balance. 

Min 42: Brazil take the corner, Mexico moves forward on the pitch and Filipe Luis is booked for hacking down Carlos Vela.

Min 39: Alvarez gets the first booking of the match for a late lunge on Neymar. Neymar takes it the free kick from 30 yards and but it goes a bit too high and wide of the Mexican high

Min 31: Neymar gets the ball who tries to cut in from the left flank, but is dispossessed by Alvarez. That was beautiful tackle.

Min 20: Jesus gets into the box passes to Neymar but there is not much Neymar can do with it. Gets dispossessed.

Min 16: There is nothing stopping Guardado and Lozano on the wings. They have got better off Fagner and Luis.

Min 11: Hernandez goes into the Brazilian box and tries to get the better of Miranda and Silva. But to no avail.

Min 9: Vela wins a corner. Marquez wins the header and Hernandez fights it out with Alisson but he is penalised for offside.

Min 5: Neymar warms the palms of Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa with a brilliant drive from outside the box.

MIn 2: Brazil concedes the first corner of the match. Brazil easily clears their line.

Min 1: Mexico gets the game underway. Mexico in green and Brazil in yellow.

Kick-off: And hereeee weeeee goooooo!!!!!!!!!

Out on the turf: Players are out of the tunnel and anthems are being played. Neymar has changed his hair colour and Hernandez has gone blonde.

Not a good news for Mexico: Mexico have been eliminated from the #WorldCup at this stage (last 16) in each of the last six tournaments

Line-ups

Brazil: Alisson, Fagner, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Filipe Luis, Paulinho, Casemiro, Willian, Coutinho, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus.

Substitute: Cassio, Pedro Geromel, Renato Augusto, Marcelo, Marquinhos, Danilo, Fernandinho, Fred, Firmino, Taison, Ederson.

Mexico: Ochoa, Alvarez, Ayala, Salcedo, Gallardo, Herrera, Marquez, Guardado, Vela, Hernandez, Lozano.

Substitute: Jose de Jesus Corona, Gutierrez, Jonathan, Layun, Fabian, Jimenez, Giovani, Jesus Corona, Peralta, Aquino, Talavera.

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

Brazil struggled for fluidity in their opening two matches in Russia and will look to the win over Serbia as a turning point to their campaign and a confidence boost.

 

However, they will have to be wary of their disciplinary record with key trio Neymar, Coutinho and Casemiro a booking away from suspension.

Brazil's journey to the Round of 16 has been anything but smooth: After drawing 1-1 with Switzerland in their opener and leaving it late to claim a 2-0 win over Costa Rica, they beat Serbia 2-0 to ultimately move on as expected group winners.

Training session:

The Brazilian national football team held a training session on Sunday for their last-16 knockout clash against Mexico in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Real Madrid defender Marcelo, whose appearance against Mexico has been in doubt, participated without visible problems in the first 15 minutes of the training that was open to the media, during which the Canarinha squad did stretches and running, reports Efe.

The squad -- including Neymar Jr, Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro, Miranda and Thiago Silva -- completed a light training led by coach Tite at the Samara Arena, which is slated to host the Monday's match.

Temperatures were high in the southwestern Russian city, and are expected to rise even more to reach 35 degrees Celcius.

After the training, Tite and Silva, who will captain his team on Monday, addressed the pre-match press conference.

Neymar and Coutinho

Much of that was due to the contribution of Phillipe Coutinho, who has been Brazil's standout player despite Neymar's attempts to grab the headlines.
 

Although he has scored just one goal, Neymar has had 18 shots so far in the World Cup and suffered 17 fouls, but has also been criticized for selfishness on the ball and play-acting when he receives challenges from rival players.

Neymar and Coutinho are certain to start and will be accompanied by Gabriel Jesus and Willian, with the latter the subject of transfer speculation linking him with a move from Chelsea to either Manchester United or FC Barcelona.
 

Left back Marcelo is doubtful for the game after suffering an injury apparently caused by his hotel mattress. If he is unable to play, he would be replaced by Atletico Madrid's Felipe Luis.

Mexico preview

Mexico do not have history on their side in their bid to dump Brazil out of the World Cup but the 2018 version of El Tri have already demonstrated a capability to surprise in Russia.

For a seventh straight World Cup Mexico have made it to the last 16, but, agonisingly, they have failed to go any further on the six previous occasions, turning the desire just to make the "quinto partido" (fifth match) an obsession.
 

"There's no greater memory than making history with a fifth match," said Mexico captain Andres Guardado.

"We're different players in terms of the mental aspect, but we know we'll be judged by whether we get through or not.

"What greater motivation could you need when we face off against the five-time champions? It's the perfect scene. It's the biggest game of our lives."

Mexico's last-16 misfortunes have often come down to the finest of margins. Defeat on penalties to surprise package Bulgaria in 1994 started an inauspicious run. They blew a lead against Germany four years later and against Argentina in 2006.

Conceding twice to the Netherlands in the final minutes four years ago hurt more than most defeats, with a controversial penalty awarded for a theatrical Arjen Robben tumble deep into stoppage time sending the Dutch into the last eight.

VAR (the video assistant referee) should prevent a repeat of that injustice, but Guardado has warned Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi not to be fooled by any playacting from the world's most expensive player, Neymar.

"We all know who Neymar is, but it isn't up to me or my team to judge him, but the referees and FIFA," he said.

"Now there's VAR they need to watch his style and know how to manage it.

"We know he likes to exaggerate fouls, throw himself on the ground a lot, but that's his style of play and the person who needs to stop that is the referee, not us."

What is at stake here

Brazil and Mexico are two of the countries who have the biggest number of fans with them in Brazil, and the stands in the 44,900 Samara Arena should be packed with color in what promises to a true 'football fiesta'.

Under Colombian coach Juan Carlos Osorio, though, Mexico approach every game seeking to impose themselves rather than in fear of the opposition.

"We will try to be more offensive-minded and more driven towards winning games rather than just being happy to be there and trying to not get embarrassed or playing not to lose," said Osorio ahead of the tournament.

He was true to his word by going for Germany's jugular in an opening game shock the world champions failed to recover from, failing to get beyond the first round of a World Cup for the first time in 80 years.

Hirving Lozano scored the only goal in Moscow but Mexico could and should have had many more with cooler heads.

Despite landing in what is widely perceived as the tougher half of the draw, the team do not want for ambition.

"Why can't we be Greece in the Euros? Why can't we be Leicester in the Premier League?" said striker Javier Hernandez, Mexico's all-time top scorer with 50 international goals.

"We want to be world champions and that's what we're aiming for. We don't want to put any limits on ourselves." To be champions, they need to get to the fifth game first.

Brazil's mission to rectify their disappointing 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign is still on course after they navigated their way to the summit of Group E at Russia 2018. One of the questions that Mexico will need to answer is: has their momentum gone?

After starting their Russia 2018 journey off with two solid wins, most notably a 1-0 victory over 2014 champions Germany, they followed that up with a 3-0 defeat to Sweden. El Tri may take confidence from their most recent World Cup meeting with Brazil in 2014, a goalless draw in Fortaleza on 17 June, the only of the four encounters between the two sides that did not end in a Brazil victory.

Possible line-ups

Brazil: Alisson; Fagner, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Filipe Luis; Casemiro, Paulinho; Willian, Philippe Coutinho, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus

Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Miguel Layun, Hugo Ayala, Carlos Salcedo, Jesus Gallardo; Hector Herrera, Jonathan Dos Santos, Andres Guardado; Carlos Vela, Javier Hernandez, Hirving Lozano

Here is the full list of Brazil's 23-member provisional squad:

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Roma), Ederson (Manchester City), Cassio (Corinthians Sao Paulo)

Defenders: Miranda (Inter Milan), Marquinhos, Thiago Silva (both Paris Saint-Germain), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Fagner (Corinthians), Pedro Geromel (Gremio), Danilo (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Paulinho (FC Barcelona), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Philippe Coutinho (FC Barcelona), Willian (Chelsea), Fred (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Forwards: Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Douglas Costa (Juventus), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Taison (Shakhtar Donetsk)

The 23-man Mexico squad

Goalkeepers: Jose Corona, Alfredo Talavera, Guillermo Ochoa

Defenders: Hugo Ayala, Carlos Salcedo, Marquez Rafael, Diego Reyes, Hector Moreno, Herrera Hector, Alvarez Edson

Midfielders: Dos Santos Jonathan, Layum Miguel, Dos Santos Giovani, Corona Jesus, Guardado Andres, Aquino Javier, Gallardo Jesus

Forwards: Fabian Marco,  Raul Jimenez, Carlos Vela,  Javier Hernandez, Peralta Oribe, Lozano Hirving

When and Where to watch: Brazil vs Mexico

Time: 7:30 PM (IST)

In the today's first knockout match, Brazil vs Mexico will take place in Samara on Monday, July 2, 2018, at 7:30 PM (IST).

Brazil vs Mexico match will be broadcast on Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 2 HD in English Commentary and Sony Ten 3 and Sony 3 HD in Hindi Commentary.

Brazil vs Mexico match will be available for live streaming on Sony Liv also. And Both Airtel and Jio would broadcast the FIFA World Cup 2018 matches for free to their respective subscribers.