Brazil Relieved to Finally Put Away Costa Rica

On the day, Brazil was lucky to be playing Costa Rica.

Not knocking Los Ticos -- actually, yes, this is knocking Los Ticos -- but if the Seleção been up against Serbia or Switzerland, this coulda been a no-pointer for them.

Fans packing Krestovsky Stadium in St Petersburg witnessed a poor game in general, easily one of the few clunkers in this World Cup.

Bad games are gonna happen, but the Brazilians are making a habit out of it. As to Costa Rica, just remember that they're in the field in spiite of a ghost goal being called good.

 

The Seleção were sweating this one right up to and through injury time. Their first victory wasn't sealed they popped two late goals from Philippe Coutinho and Neymar Jr.

In a weak first half, both 'keepers woulda been well served to bring along some reading material to pass the time. Neither Alisson Becker nor Keylor Navas had anything troublesome in the opening 45. Dudes had plenty of time to, say, fantasize.

 

After the intermission, Willian was subbed out for Douglas Costa, and Brazil were finally dangerous. Navas had some work to do in saving long-range shots from Coutinho and Casemiro, but it was still not enough to score.

Desperation for a goal went to extremes so ridiculous, even the Virtual Assistant Referee had to weigh in for a slapdown. Neymar was constantly diving trying to draw fouls. Dude was 'held' inside the Costa Rican area, and the referee pointed at the spot. However, the VAR basically told him to put lace trim on his shorts:

How the referee found six minutes of injury time was anyone's guess.

Hadn't the spectators been punished enough already?

 

Then, just when it seemed the first goalless draw in Russia was on the cards, in the 91st minute, Coutinho materialized inside the area and surprised Navas.

It was his second goal in this World Cup.

For a bitta icing on the cake, since the match was still going in the 97th minute, Douglas Costa assisted Neymar to complete a counterattack and finally put this one in the books.

Incredibly, Neymar stayed on his feet. Apparently, there was no light breeze or anything like it.

 

The euphoria and emotion of scoring such an important goal for his country reduced the PSG star to tears after the final whistle.

Dude, you were playing Costa Rica.

Maybe he'd better keep that lace trim on his shorts.

 

With this result, Brazil's still in with a shout to do what virtually every sportsbook on the planet has laid odds that it would do.

Be the favorite.

At this point, it'd be advisable for them to start playing like it.