Unlike in the early stages of their last match versus Switzerland, five-time world champions Brazil struggled to get going in their second Group E match, with Costa Rica their opponents this time around. A disappointing 1-1 draw in that opener meant that the hotly-tipped favourites to win the 2018 World Cup needed to show their dominance on Friday lunchtime, yet once again they came up against a side that were extremely difficult to break down.
Serbia had needed a moment of magic via an Aleksandar Kolarov free-kick in order to secure a 1-0 win versus Los Ticos, and once again the surprise package from 2014 dug in during the first half with Brazil. Despite only having 32.6% possession during the opening 45 minutes, Costa Rica battled to break up the play of their talented opponents.
Sporting attacker Bryan Ruiz was key in this regard, recovering the ball on no less than seven occasions, and completing three from four of his take-ons by half-time, while defensive team-mates Giancarlo Gonzalez (four) and Johnny Acosta (two) were successful with 100% of their clearances.
The unfancied team also went closest to scoring, Celso Borges shooting wide when he really should have broken the deadlock. Something clearly needed to change for Brazil and their boss Tite identified with that sentiment when he brought on Juventus winger Douglas Costa for Willian at the restart.
Something clearly gave the Selecao some extra juice at half-time as they almost scored twice within the first five minutes of the second period, Brazil playing at a much higher tempo than during the frustrating opening 45 minutes. They looked like a totally different team as they drove forward with chance after chance, the addition of Costa making Tite’s men look much more balanced and quicker in attack.
Roberto Firmino replaced Paulinho before Neymar missed a golden opportunity to score on 72 minutes as the scores remained gridlocked at 0-0. Just five minutes later, Neymar went down following a shirt pull by Gonzalez but – after initially awarding the spot-kick – the referee overturned the decision after reviewing the incident on the video screen, as the star player looked to have gone down too easily.
The PSG forward was an often frustrated figure as he continually appealed for fouls that weren’t given, eventually yellow carded for bouncing the ball on the ground in frustration. It certainly seemed as though Neymar spent more time complaining than he did focussing on his own game, a factor that hurt Brazil as they looked to take the lead.
Yet as time ticked past 90 minutes, Philippe Coutinho finally breached the Costa Rica defence as Firmino nodded down an excellent long ball from Marcelo for the Barcelona man to gratefully fire home. The free-kick hero from the last match had saved the day for Brazil, as earth-shattering as that must have been for the determined Los Ticos. Neymar would give Brazil a flattering 2-0 lead with almost the last kick of the match, latching on to a Costa ball played square across the box as Costa Rica finally gave up the ghost.
