Brazil booked their place in the World Cup quarterfinals when they cruised to a 4-1 victory during their Round of 16 clash with South Korea on Monday night.
Neymar returned from injury to score a penalty while Vinicius Junior, Richarlison, and Lucas Paqueta all got their names on the scoresheet to hand Brazil a 4-0 lead at half-time. While Paik Seung-Ho managed to score for South Korea in the 76th minute, it proved too little too late as Brazil’s lead proved too large to close in on.
“Let’s hope we can carry on dancing all the way to the final,” Vinicius commented, adding that the entire team is praying for the full recovery of Brazil legend Pele, who is currently in hospital recovering from a respiratory illness.
The other Round of 16 fixture saw Croatia come up against surprise Group E winners Japan. Daizen Maeda handed Japan the lead off a short corner before the half-time break before Ivan Perisic equalized in the 55th minute after getting on the end of a Dejan Lovren cross.
With neither team able to break the deadlock, the game went on to extra time and then penalties, with Croatia emerging victorious with a 3-1 win.
Brazil and Croatia will face off on Friday night.
