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Richarlison (center) is celebrated
Photo:
PETER CZIBORRA / REUTERS
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Richarlison: "One of the best goals of my career"
7:58 a.m .:
The lull almost drove Richarlison to despair.
No clever passes, no precise crosses - so he counted his teammates at the break.
"I told my colleagues at half-time that I needed balls.
And promised them: If I get balls, I'll score," said the Brazilian center forward.
No sooner said than done – and how.
After a sweeping goal in the 62nd minute, he scored a dream goal against Serbia in the 73rd minute.
After an outside cross from Vinicius Junior from the left, the Tottenham Hotspur attacker lobbed the ball over his own head with the first contact, turned around once and completed a powerful side kick into the left corner to make it 2-0 against Serbia.
"It was a beautiful goal, it was acrobatic - probably one of the best of my career and of the tournament," said Richarlison.
However, the 25-year-old explained that he had already scored similar goals at both Fluminense and Everton: »It makes me happy to score goals.
You always have to be eager to score goals.
If I get a ball in the next game, I'll put it back in."
Serbia's coach sees Brazil as title favorites
7.30 a.m .:
Serbian national coach Dragan Stojkovic considers Brazil to be the big favorite to win the World Cup after the direct duel on Thursday evening.
“Brazil is the top team at this World Cup.
There's no doubt about that," said the 57-year-old after the 2-0 defeat against the record world champions.
Stojkovic also blamed the Serbs' lack of a chance on his team's injury problems.
"We have three key players injured: Filip Kostic, Stefan Mitrovic, Dusan Vlahovic is not at 100 percent.
This is too much for us.
We are not Brazil.
We're a small country," said the former Red Star Belgrade and Olympique Marseille star.
Stojkovic unhesitatingly conceded »the deserved victory« for the Brazilians.
"There's no shame in losing to Brazil," he said.
Brazil worried about
Neymar
- investigations on
Friday
07.00
: Late at night, Neymar hobbled through the catacombs of Lusail Stadium wearing gold headphones.
He kept his head down, the Brazilian superstar didn't want to answer questions.
The big questions now are: how bad is the 30-year-old's ankle injury?
And is he even threatened with losing the World Cup?
National coach Tite doesn't think so.
“We are confident that he can continue playing at this World Cup.
He will continue this World Cup, «announced the 61-year-old after the 2-0 win against Serbia.
Whether this is actually the case will only be shown by the investigations this Friday.
According to team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar, Neymar has sprained his right ankle.
"We now have to wait 24 to 48 hours before we can say more," he said.
There is no MRI appointment yet.
The Brazilians play their next game against Switzerland on Monday.
Lahm sees leaders as having a duty
6.50 a.m .:
Philipp Lahm sees the leading players as having a duty in view of the imminent departure of the German national team.
In the "final" against Spain on Sunday (8 p.m. CET, TV: ZDF and MagentaTV), "the boys who have experienced such or similar situations in their clubs umpteen times are challenged," Lahm told the editorial network Germany.
Lahm also criticized the substitutions made by national coach Hansi Flick in the 2-1 draw against Japan: "As a result, stability and security were lost." There was also a lack of coordination on the German defense.
The 2014 world champion captain is optimistic.
"We still have the quality, the individual class to survive there," he said.
The DFB selection should now “not make the mistake of blaming each other – that would be the worst thing that can happen”.
ngo/dpa/Reuters/AP/sid