Hosts Brazil stormed into the second round of the Fifa World Cup after powering past a spirited Cameroon in a 4-1 win at the National Stadium in Brasilia yesterday.
Both Brazil and Mexico ended their Group A campaign with seven points after the final round of games but a better goal difference saw the Selecao top the group. Brazil had a goal difference of +5 while Mexico had +3 following their 3-1 victory over Croatia at Recife yesterday.
Brazil will now square off against Chile in the round of 16 at Belo Horizonte on Saturday while Group A runners-up Mexico are all set to face early pace-setters the Netherlands at Fortaleza a day later.
The Indomitable Lions made life hard for the hosts who had to toil hard till the last minute to ensure their superiority. Cheered on by a capacity crowd, Neymar and Co gradually grew in confidence.
Brazil, in their 100th World Cup game, took the lead in the 17th minute through a flowing passage of play as holding midfielder Luiz Gustavo won the ball in the left flank, rolled a low cross past two opposition defenders and towards the path of the onrushing Neymar who completed the task with a cool angular flick in the far post of Charles Itandje. Neymar’s strike was also this World Cup’s 100th goal.
However, Cameroon refused to go down without a fight. The Indomitable Lions pressed forward, cornered the Brazilian defence and duly received rewards for their brave attacking approach in the 26th minute when Schalke 04 centre-back Joel Matip tapped in a simple finish after brilliant work down the right edge of the box by teammate Allan Nyom, who produced superb footwork to go past Dani Alves before unleashing the pass.
A shell-shocked Brazil were yearning for a saviour to rescue them and Neymar rose to the occasion once again. Ten minutes before the conclusion of the first half, Marcelo controlled a long ball brilliantly and ran past his marker before sidefooting a forward pass to the mercurial Brazilian striker. Neymar deceived two defenders before shooting between the legs of Cameroon skipper Nicolas Nkoulou and Itandje had nothing to do apart from falling down helplessly.
Brazil started the second half firing from all cylinders as forward Fred scored the third four minutes after resumption. David Luiz’s efforts on the left side of the box paved the way for Fred whose glancing header landed in the near post.
Fernandinho, coming on as a substitute, completed the rout in the 84th minute as Oscar’s intelligent through pass found the Manchester City midfielder in the right flank and he made no mistake firing an angular drive in the far post to send the stadium into a frenzy.