MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South Korea no match for Brazil at Qatar 2022

Brazil will now face Croatia Friday in a quarterfinal match

Five-time champions Brazil Monday advanced to the quarterfinals of the Qatar 2022 football World Cup with a 4-1 rout of South Korea giving Uruguay some comfort that had they not been eliminated earlier they would have most likely had to endure a similar disgrace.

The South Americans were at full strength with the return of Neymar, whose ankle is still visibly swollen, in addition to Danilo and Alex Sandro.

Vinicius Jr., Neymar (penalty), Richarlison, and Lucas Paquetá had given the South Americans a thrashing 4-1 lead before Paik Seung Ho narrowed the gap, and Palmeiras goalie Weverton was also tested on a couple of occasions when it was already too late to even dream of a comeback.

Brazil will now face Croatia Friday for a place in the Dec. 13 semifinal against the winners of Argentina v. The Netherlands.

After a streak of surprising results in the group phase which led to the early departure of former Cup holders Uruguay and also Germany, so far only the favorite teams have advanced in the knockout series.

In the other round-of-16 match Monday, Croatian keeper Dominik Livakovic was the man of the match with three saves in his team's shootout victory from the spot over Japan after a 1-1 tie.

Even Luka Modrić was below his usual form against an Asian team that did everything right, except for the penalty kick part.

Daizen Maeda opened the score in the 44th minute and Ivan Perisic put the 2018 runners-up back on track ten minutes into the second half with a superb heading.

If the trend of favorite teams winning continues Tuesday, Spain would have no trouble dispatching Morocco and Portugal would overcome Switzerland.