Brazil rest their case: Late Casemiro strike sends Brazil into last-16; Ghana hold off South Korea

DOHA, November 28

Doha’s Stadium 974 thrummed to the samba beat today night as Brazilian fans brought Latin American swagger to this patch of Qatar and Casemiro fired Brazil into the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup finals with a 1-0 victory over Switzerland.

The midfielder’s spectacular 83rd minute goal sent Brazil through with a game to spare and lit a touch paper to a contest that up to then had struggled to smoulder. But the sea of Brazilian fans won’t care about any of that as 80 or so minutes of sloppy passing and directionless play was forgotten in the hysteria of the final minutes.

Tens of thousands of yellow shirts had painted the inside of this quirky stadium bright yellow in a frieze of canary, broken up only by small pockets of local fans in traditional white robes and a smattering of red Swiss shirts.

It was hard to believe this was a match being played on the Arabian Peninsula, for it had every setting of a home game for the Brazilians – from the thunderous roars accompanying every fancy move to the rhythmic beat drummed out throughout.

It’s a big risk I took. But I’m the dad of these kids so when I have to take risks and make decisions, I do that and I stand by what I do. —Rigobert Song, cameroon coach. On leaving out first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana for disciplinary reasons

But if the supporters had planned for a party, the student of football might well have suspected otherwise. The two previous World Cup meetings between these two sides had ended in draws – 2-2 in 1950, and 1-1 in 2018.

The Brazilians had only won three of their nine match-ups with Switzerland in total, with four drawn and two losses.

This Monday night clash looked to be heading for another stalemate before Casemiro’s moment of pure magic.

With Brazil increasingly desperate, half-time substitute Rodrygo played a first time ball to Casemiro who struck it with the outside of his foot and it glided — in time-honoured Brazilian fashion — past Yann Sommer in goal, the Swiss watching in horror as it bulged the side of the inside of his goal.

Kudus to Ghana

Al Rayyan: Mohammed Kudus netted twice as Ghana edged out South Korea 3-2 in a dramatic and fluctuating World Cup Group H game today to stay in contention for the next round.

Ghana led 2-0 at halftime but allowed South Korea back into the match as Cho Gue-sung netted twice in three minutes to level at 2-2, only for Kudus to earn Ghana victory in a heart-stopping contest. — Reuters

3In only his third appearance for Germany, striker Niclas Fuellkrug scored the equaliser against Spain that kept the four-time champions’ knockout hopes alive