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Brazilian celebrations in Doha: The Brazilians Raphinha, Vinícius Júnior, Lucas Paquetá and Neymar celebrate the 2-0 victory over South Korea
Photo:
IMAGO/Isaac Ortiz / IMAGO/Agencia MexSport
The circus is in town:
games at major football events are often criticized for lack of quality or attractiveness;
the favorite is struggling, the outsider puts himself in the back.
The Brazilians, on the other hand, showed in the first half against South Korea that World Cup football can also be beautiful.
Above all, Richarlison, who was already outstanding in the group phase, conjured his way through the Korean ensemble: Balancing the ball on his forehead before the 3-0 win in the meantime was reminiscent of gambling with friends at the Copacabana.
Just stop in the World Cup round of 16.
The result:
Brazil won 4:1 (4:0).
That's largely because Korea focused on defending in the second half, Brazil rested their ankles and, tellingly, Korean keeper Kim Seung-gyu had a cracking day.
Here is the match report.
Concerns for the legend:
One of the dominant topics in Brazil in recent days has not only been Neymar's sprained ankle, but the hospitalization of what is actually the greatest Brazilian footballer in history: Pele.
The 82-year-old has been in a hospital in São Paulo for several days. According to media reports, he suffers from cancer, so chemotherapy is no longer effective.
"We are on this path together," Pelé wrote on Instagram.
The fans in the stadium in the tenth minute and the Brazilian players after the game responded with banners.
First half:
Pelé's game exuded that easy elegance - and it was a bit like the Brazilian players in Doha wanting to say hello to him in the first half.
After a cross, Vinícius flicked unchallenged and relaxed into the right angle (7th).
Neymar scored almost maddeningly with a penalty (13th).
Then came Richarlison's dream goal, which was based on a combination with the central defenders Marquinhos and Thiago Silva, who stayed ahead after a corner (29th).
A little later, Vinícius lobbed the ball elegantly onto the second post on the inside right of Paquetá, who scored with a volley (36').
The game was over before the break.
South Korea coach Paulo Bento looked so sadly at the Brazilians dancing after goals in the Korean box that he could have been encouraged to
please join the Portuguese-speaking colleagues.
He was later to resign.
Clown face instead of Bolsonaro dedication:
One of the topics before the tournament was the presidential election in Brazil.
Neymar sided with the far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, and quite a few people at home wished their superstar a similarly tragic World Cup exit as in 2014. Neymar had even announced that he would dedicate his first goal at this tournament to Bolsonaro.
In the end, it became his already familiar grimacing cheer, a mixture of clown face and I've seen too many Marvin Ducksch goals.
Dance with Tite:
Unlike Neymar, Richarlison and coach Tite showed solidarity with the left-wing new President Lula.
After Richarlison's 3-0 victory, the Brazilians celebrated in their dance circle again.
Then Richarlison ran to the bench to dance with Tite.
However, that didn't go down well with everyone.
Irish ex-pro Roy Keane called the dance performance "disrespectful" on British television.
Second half:
And at least a certain amount of arrogance must actually be assumed by the Brazilians.
Not that they didn't continue to play for the Koreans.
However, at some point Tite seemed to follow the plan to really give each of the 26 squad players a few World Cup minutes.
All or nothing: Wéverton, the third goalkeeper, came on in the 80th minute.
Once again: In the World Cup round of 16.
By then Korea had scored a consolation goal from a deflected shot by Paik Seung-ho and were not too far from another goal.
It remains to be hoped for the title hopes of this Brazilian team that this carelessness with which they inspire football and also cheer does not fall on their feet in the end.
Like Peter:
"JoPerCh" was the name given by SPIEGEL editor Christoph Scheuermann to the three almost uniform men in ZDF's World Cup studio, Jochen Breyer, Per Mertesacker and Christoph Kramer, in his mini column.
On Monday, with national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and presenter Katrin Müller-Hohenstein, there were two women in the group and Müller-Hohenstein seemed to want to keep up with the creativity of his colleague: "Peter, do you see it that way too?" She asked Mertesacker and added: “Did I say Peter?” Kramer, at the latest, caused the laughter by remarking in the direction of Mertesacker: “You look a bit like Peter.”