Brazil face South Korea in the last 16 of the World Cup as they hope to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat by Cameroon last time out. Tite’s side are favorites to reach the quarter-finals and have been boosted by Neymar’s return to training this week, although questions remain over his fitness after recovering from an ankle injury. South Korea go into the match full of confidence after their shock late win over Portugal saw them sneak into the knockout rounds at the expense of Uruguay. Their best finals performance was reaching the semi-finals on home soil in 2002, can they repeat that feat 20 years later? The winner here will face Croatia in the quarter-finals after Luka Modric’s side beat Japan on penalties. Follow all the action with our live blog below, following the reaction from the penalty shootout for Japan v Croatia
Brazil vs South Korea
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Brazil vs South Korea
Less than half an hour from kick-off. (REUTERS) (REUTERS) (REUTERS) Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:35 p.m 1670265174
Brazil vs South Korea
Brazil have lost four of their last 10 World Cup matches. Their previous four defeats in the competition were spread across 36 matches. Will they suffer a shock defeat tonight? Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:32 p.m 1670264994
Pele’s family are denying reports that the Brazil legend is in palliative care
Brazil great Pele has not been moved to palliative care, one of his daughters said on Sunday, downplaying reports he was in end-of-life care after the 82-year-old was admitted to hospital last week to have his treatment re-evaluated. is fighting colon cancer. One of the greatest footballers of all time, Pele had a colon tumor removed in September 2021 and is receiving regular hospital care. Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported on Saturday that he was under palliative care after chemotherapy stopped having the expected results. Pele’s doctors have not confirmed this information, and his daughter, Flavia Nascimento, said the report was far-fetched. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:29 p.m 1670264814
Who will face Croatia in the quarter finals?
Croatia’s victory over Japan in the quarter-finals means that four of the five current quarter-finalists have all come from Europe – with the exception of Argentina. Brazil and South Korea meet tonight to see who will face Croatia in the next round. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:26 p.m 1670264634
Brazil vs South Korea Prediction
Brazil won’t have it all their own way, but they should have plenty of firepower for South Korea to deal with for 90 minutes, especially with a completely revamped forward line that includes Neymar, Vinicius Jr and Richarlison. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:23 p.m 1670264454
Brazil vs South Korea
This will be the eighth meeting between Brazil and South Korea but the first competitive meeting between the two sides. Brazil have won six of their previous seven matches, most recently a 5-1 win in June. The other game ended in victory for the South Koreans. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:20 p.m 1670264274
Brazil – South Korea team changes
Tite made 10 changes to the Brazil team that lost to Cameroon in their final group game. Real Madrid defender Ender Militao is the only one remaining. Neymar is also back from his ankle injury. There are two changes to the South Korea team that dramatically beat Portugal last time out. Kwon Kyung-won and Lee Kang-In fall to the bench Hwang Hee-chan and defender Kim Min-Jae return. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:17 p.m 1670264094
Japan’s fairytale run is finally coming to an end
Japan have never made it past the last 16 at a World Cup. Failures in 2002 and 2010 still stung when 2018 became the most heartbreaking of all, Nacer Chadli’s late goal seeing Belgium roar from two down in the second half to win it in the last. The pain of that night in Rostov has lived with this Japanese team ever since. “I never forgot,” Yuto Nagatomo would say in creating this last attempt to write new history. He’ll remember that too. Instead, it was the same old story, the fairy tale this team had at this World Cup that was brutally ended in the most painful way by Croatia, a bitter final chapter in a previously undeserved revival story. Michael Jones5 December 2022 18:14 1670263914
Croatia crush Japan’s World Cup dream as experience proves crucial in penalty shoot-out
Japan had knocked off two former World Cup winners, but the 2018 runners-up ended their run as the scourge of the European powers. The Blue Samaritans were the conquerors of Germany and Spain but were denied a third major scalp with a hat-trick of penalty saves from Dominik Livakovic. In a superb performance, the Croatian goalkeeper got three times out of four, denying Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and finally Maya Yoshida to extend Luka Modric’s World Cup career. The Croatia captain had departed before the first shot of the 2022 tournament. In his absence, Nikola Vlasic, Marcelo Brozovic and Mario Pasalic converted, making Marko Livaja’s mistake irrelevant and ensuring the Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper was the hero. Only compatriot Danijel Subasic and Portugal’s Ricardo had made three penalty saves at the World Cup before. Livakovic also came with them. If Croatia can enjoy the shots, Japan must fear them. Zlatko Dalic’s side had won twice on penalties en route to the final in 2018. For Japan, as in 2010, the last-16 tie was decided on the spot. They have never yet reached a World Cup quarter-final and can be disappointed by the way they squandered an advantage gained in an excellent first half. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:11 p.m 1670263674
Japan and Croatia remind of danger and reluctance of World Cup knockout football
The semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup were over and done with before we knew it, with little of it really creating any chance of shock or indeed much doubt as to who would progress. Sure, Australia got into a big stretch from Emi Martinez to equalize, but they were wildly against the flow of the game and after a huge goal disallowed, and sure enough, both England and France were short disappointed. It didn’t last and as soon as the first goal was scored, the uncertainty disappeared. For all intents and purposes, each of the first four rounds of 16 clashes was over and done with at half-time, as none relinquished their early lead and three were absolutely over by the hour mark. Michael Jones December 5, 2022 6:07 p.m
