Half-time: Brazil 0-0 Costa Rica And so a disappointing first half comes to an end. Costa Rica will be happy but Brazil’s frustration is palpable. Neymar has to be led away from an angry disagreement with Bjorn Kuipers, the Dutch referee who has given him barely any decisions in the first 45 minutes.
Costa Rica serve a stark warning for Brazil. Venegas gallops forward past Marcelo down the right flank and cuts back an inviting pass into the box. Celso Borges, running in, needs to pick his spot in the goal but fails to do so and drags his shot wide.
Offside. Marcelo lets go from distance and the blocked shot falls to Gabriel Jesus who was in an offside position. Though the Man City striker slotted it home, the linesman had spotted the offside.
Navas denies Neymar! Finally, Brazil click into gear. Coutinho picks out Neymar’s run inside from the left flank. The PSG star takes it in his stride as he enters the box but Navas flies out to deny him the time to shoot and saves the day for Costa Rica.
Marcelo hits the target with a speculative shot from distance. Brazil are dominating the ball but are finding it hard to get in behind the Costa Rican defence.
Half-time and it’s goalless in St. Petersburg. Brazil might have dominated the half but did not fashion many concrete opportunities. Costa Rica have threatened on the counters. With Serbia looming in the final game, Brazil badly need a win in this game. 45 minutes for Tite’s men to notch an important win.
Source: News365coza
