Hurt Brazil face hopeful South Korea

After defeating Portugal, South Korea now aim to drop another shocker in their Round of 16 match as they face five-time World Champions Brazil at Stadium 974 in Doha on Monday.

Paulo Bento’s men qualified for the knockouts by finishing second in Group H over Uruguay as they stunned Portugal and made a historic comeback to win the game 2-1 with a 92nd-minute winner.

Brazil, on the other hand, finished their group stage as the champions with six points as they beat Serbia and Switzerland to stay ahead of the Swiss in the table by just one goal.

Brazil were considered one of the top contenders for the world title as they have a squad full of world-class performers but they have failed to impress the fans as the fierce firepower the team possess in Richarlison, Vinicius Junior, Gabriel Jesus, Rodrygo Goes, and Gabriel Martinelli, led by Neymar could not put up a show in the World Cup yet. Even though they won their first two matches, their attack did not come with the ruthlessness that has been expected of them.

For the first time in their history, Brazil lost to an African nation in the World Cup as they were beaten 1-0 by Cameroon in their final group stage game, where Vincent Aboubakar scored a 93rd-minute winner to secure a historic win for the nation. The Brazilian attackers failed to convert a single goal in their total of 21 attempts. If the Selecaos want to cling to their ‘favourites’ tag, they must turn up lethal in the match against South Korea.

South Korea on the other hand, made a dramatic entrance into the knockouts to knock Luis Suarez’s Uruguay out in the final moments of the final matchday, which would surely boost the morality of the team ahead of a knockout clash against the Brazilians.

Their skipper Son Heung-Min, who provided the assist for the winner against Portugal, said that they were hopeful for another miracle against Brazil.

“We’ve always talked about reaching the round of 16 as our objective but we should now try to go beyond that. I hope we can script another miracle,” he said.

The Selecaos have been struck badly by injuries as they lost Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles on the same day due to injuries picked up in the Cameroon game. Alex Sandro is also reported to be out of the clash against the Koreans due to hip problems. With both Sandro and Telles out, Tite is short of options to play as the left-back.

This will be the eighth meeting between the sides. In their previous seven meetings, South Korea could manage only one victory while Brazil won the rest.