Brazil Spent The First Half Clowning South Korea To Take A 4-0 Lead

The group stage at the 2022 World Cup featured some true shockers, as pre-tournament favorites like Germany and Belgium failed to advance to the knockout stages. Among the teams that made surprising runs to the Round of 16 was South Korea, which advanced over Uruguay in stunning fashion by beating Portugal in the third match of the group stage.

Their reward for that triumph was a matchup on Monday with the odds-on favorites to win it all in Brazil, which got Neymar Jr. back from an ankle injury to bolster their star-studded lineup. It didn’t take long for Brazil to assert its dominance on Monday, as they spent the first 45 minutes of the game absolutely clowning the South Koreans as they piled up four goals.

The first of those came quickly, as Raphinha broke free on the right hand side and slid a pass across the box that managed to get through to Vinicius Jr., who took a touch and coolly popped it in the back of the net past a whole host of scrambling defenders.

Shortly after, Brazil was given a penalty kick after Richarlison beat a defender to a bouncing ball and got kicked in the foot in the box, making for an easy decision from the referee.

Neymar then strolled to the spot and made the South Korean keeper forget how to use his legs, freezing him as he calmly slotted it into the goal.

Then it was Richarlison’s turn to get in on the fun, as his heater continues this World Cup on one of the most beautiful passing sequences you will see all tournament to set up a wide open goal.

I mean, look at this, he starts the goal sequence by juggling the ball on his head before calmly turning a defender around and starting his run.

That goal even got Brazil’s coach in on their post-goal celebrations, as they danced it out on the sideline.

The final goal of the first half came on a cheeky chipped pass from Vini, who found Lucas Paqueta making a late run, knocking one past the keeper to make it 4-0 Brazil.

The first half of the game was so utterly dominant from Brazil that it felt like a scrimmage at times, not a World Cup knockout round game, but so goes life for the Brazilian squad, with South Korea finding itself in the unenviable position of a team chasing goals against a Brazil unit that is lethal in open space on a counter attack.