The Serbia National Football Team was up for a tough task when they were put up against 5 times World Champions Brazil in their opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. The two teams have met head to head only twice, with Brazil emerging victorious on both occasions. The last time both the sides met was in a group stage match during the 2018 World Cup, where Brazil beat Serbia 2-0
The match kicked off as Brazil started taking early charge, dominating ball possession from the beginning. The first few minutes saw both teams committing a series of fouls until the first potential goal scoring opportunity came in the 13th minute, when Neymar curled a corner kick close to the Serbian goal that was punched away by the goalie.
Serbia were struggling to even reach the Brazilian box throughout the majority of the first half. Their first attempt to score came in the 37th minute, when Mladenovic tried to send one past the Brazilian goalkeeper, but his effort was thwarted. This turned out to be the only Serbian attempt at scoring in the first half, as the referee called for the end, with the scorecard standing goalless at 0-0. The Brazilians did well to keep over 90{4dc4e91388017838581a326de33c632ff6050b9012ce4a5b463b369bff7bdfab} of ball possession, but they should’ve scored a goal as well. They’ll probably try to fix that in the second half.
The second half begins with Brazil continuing with the dominance as Neymar and Raphinha proceed to test the Serbian defense line up, taking multiple shots at their goal, including a couple of sublime free kicks by Neymar. 62 minutes into the game, Brazil score their first goal as Richarlison de Andrade sends the ball into the Serbian goal following an assist from Vinicius Junior. Brazil finally took a much needed 1-0 lead over Serbia.
73 minutes into the match, we witnessed one of the most beautiful goals of this world cup edition when Vinicius sent in a brilliant pass to Richarlison who executed a perfectly timed bicycle shot to send the ball rocketing past the Serbian goalkeeper to double Brazil’s lead. This could simply be the goal of the tournament as it was truly a stunning acrobatic effort that is rare to see getting executed so perfectly.
With a comfortable lead up their sleeves, Richarlison, Neymar and Vinicius go off the field as they are replaced by young talents Gabriel Jesus, Antony and Rodrygo at just over 75 minutes. The last 10 minutes up to 90 saw Jesus and Antony attack the Serbian defense with some quick fire shots and assists which sadly didn’t convert, but were enough to assert more pressure on the Serbs.
The referee signals 8 minutes of extra time after 90, which saw a couple of Brazilian fouls, though no damage was done. The final minute saw a promising Serbian scoring attempt by Radonjic, which didn’t convert. This was only the second proper Serbian shot at the Brazilian goal in the entire match. With the referee’s whistle, the match finally ends with Brazil clinching a comfortable 2-0 victory over Serbia at the Lusail Stadium.
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