World Cup: Brazil First Side To Qualify For Russia 2018 As Neymar Scores Another Cracker (Video)

Alan Duffy

29th, March 2017

Brazil became the first side, other than hosts Russia, to book their place in the 2018 World Cup finals after a classy 3-0 win against Paraguay, with star man Neymar once again scoring a superb goal.

Under manager Tite, who replaced Dunga earlier on in the campaign, Brazil have returned to their swashbuckling roots, playing a trademark brand of free-flowing attacking football.

Paraguay were impressive early on, but on 34 minutes, Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring with a fine effort after combining with Paulinho.

In the second-half, Brazil moved up the gears, with Neymar winning a penalty, only to see his effort easily saved by Antony Silva after a bloody silly run up.

However, just after the hour mark, Neymar made up for his spot-kick miss, running from inside his own half to net a magnificent solo goal (albeit via a slight deflection).

Real Madrid full-back Marcelo made it 3-0 via a fine chipped effort to seal an impressive win for Brazil which sees them qualify for Russia after going nine points clear of second-placed Colombia.

Considering, Brazil were struggling in their qualifying campaign just a year ago, the transformation under Tite has been mighty impressive.

As for Neymar, he is edging ever closer to the footballing stratosphere currently reserved only for Messi and Ronaldo.

Posted in South America, Videos, World Cup

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