Tops & Flops | Brazil’s Joga Bonito soars as South Korea fall flat in vital tie | OneFootball

TOPS

Brazil enjoyed themselves

Brazil’s performance was definitely dominating, but the fact that they absolutely enjoyed themselves and never seemed fazed by the occasion should be a warning sign for the other teams. They were onto it as soon as the game started and the Vinicius Jr goal was so deftly taken that it showed the confidence they have in themselves right now. The dancing celebration also established the same thing and Croatia should be quite scared.

Tite knows his first team

Tite had rotated the team in Brazil’s last group stage game and he has made some experimental substitutions in other games as well. But the performance today from the line-up put out by Tite shows that he knows what his first-team looks like and that certainty will put Brazil in good stead over some other teams such as England and perhaps Argentina, who don’t know what their first-team really is. Brazil are very certain as to who will play in the key games, unless someone gets injured.

FLOPS

South Korea just folded: The manner of defeat and especially the performance in the first-half was simply dire from South Korea, who had worked very hard to come this far. They never seemed to have got going in the first half and were extremely poor defensively and allowed themselves to be penetrated by Brazil again and again. It was almost like Japan’s dismal penalty shootout loss, which came after a spirited 120 minutes of football against Croatia.

Asian dreams dead: This was the first time in a World Cup that three teams from AFC had qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament. While Australia lost to Argentina and Japan lost to Croatia on penalties, South Korea’s loss to Brazil means that it is the end of the Asian teams in the competition. Considering how important a tournament it has been for Asian sides and even African side, their elimination is a disappointment.

GWFN