World Cup Report: Brazil wins after dramatic goal in stoppage time

Jun 23 2018, 12:17 am

It took more than 90 minutes for Brazil to finally get the goal they needed at the World Cup on Friday, as they avoided going winless through two matches.

Here’s your daily recap of all the action in Russia:

Brazil survives scare from Costa Rica

Overmatched against mighty Brazil, Costa Rica needed to defend as well as they ever have to get a positive result. And they nearly pulled it off.

Holding 66% of possession with 23 shot attempts, compared to just four from Costa Rica, Brazil stared at a nil-nil draw heading into stoppage time.

They wound up winning 2-0.

Philippe Coutinho came to the rescue for the South Americans, scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute.

Neymar added another, to seal the deal.

A draw would have put Brazil in a precarious position heading into their final match against Serbia. Instead, they just need to earn a point in their final match to go through.

Switzerland storms back against Serbia

Switzerland became the first team at this World Cup to win after surrendering the first goal, defeating Serbia 2-1.

Serbia got the start they were looking for, with Aleksandar Mitrovic heading home the opening goal five minutes into the match.

The Swiss answered back in the second half, courtesy of a left-footed thunderbolt from Granit Xhaka (great name, by the way).

The match stayed level until Switzerland’s other X-Man, Xherdan Shaqiri (seriously, how great are these names?) got past the Serbian defenders to score the winning goal in the 90th minute.

And then he took his shirt off…

Switzerland’s in great shape to move on, needing a win or maybe even just a draw against Costa Rica in their next match.

Nigeria beats Iceland

The well-dressed Nigerians defeated the giant-killers from Iceland 2-0, keeping things interesting in Group D.

Ahmed Musa had both goals for Nigeria, scoring in the 49th and 75th minutes.

After VAR awarded a penalty to Iceland, Gylfi Sigurdsson squandered a glorious chance to cut the lead in half, sailing the ball over the net.

The Nigerian win was helpful for Argentina, as this man illustrates:

Argentina likely now just needs a victory in their final group stage match to advance, depending on how Iceland fares against Croatia.

Saturday’s games

There’s no shortage of intriguing storylines on Saturday, as we get our second look at the high-flying Belgians when they take on Tunisia. If Mexico can beat South Korea, it would set up a do-or-die scenario for Germany, who would need a positive result to stay alive.

  • Belgium vs Tunisia (5 am PT / 8 am ET)
  • South Korea vs Mexico (8 am PT / 11 am ET)
  • Germany vs Sweden (11 am PT / 2 pm ET)
See also
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