Brazil leave it late to crush Costa Rica dreams

Brazil 2
Coutinho 90+1, Neymar 90+7
Costa Rica 0

Three things we learned...

1Flawed finishing is costing World Cup minnows
After being beaten in added time, Costa Rica joined Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Peru on the list of teams dumped out of the World Cup and there's a common denominator in the way all of the early departures have played.

Los Ticos defended remarkably well against the Brazilians and Keylor Navas justified his status as a top-level shot-stopper to keep out Gabriel Jesus, Coutinho and Neymar.

Costa Rica frequently looked like capitalising on Brazil's risky high-line approach, with wing-backs Bryan Oviedo and Christian Gamboa exploiting the space behind their defence.

Much like the perky Peruvians and meticulous Moroccans though, the Concacaf nation had no end product and that proved their greatest shortcoming.

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2Neymar's temperament lets him down
He netted the second and killer goal for Brazil but Neymar was largely unconvincing for most of the game. Not only was the Paris St-Germain forward's performance under par but his behaviour was also seriously concerning.

In a blatant act of simulation, he flopped to the floor following a light touch from Los Ticos defender Oscar Duarte and appeared to have won a late penalty only for VAR to rule it out.

Moments later Neymar demonstrated further petulance when slamming the ball into the ground after a decision went Costa Rica's way and he was rightfully booked.

Had official Bjorn Kuipers decided to penalise the Brazilian for the earlier dive, Neymar could have found himself sent off, merely due to an inability to keep his head.

His three-month absence from the pitch means he has been far from his sharpest but Neymar is not helping his overall game with the temperament he demonstrated in this game.

3Brazil struggle to make the most of set-pieces
They were slow, drab and pretty predictable in the final third but Brazil, as the best sides do, managed to secure three points when they were far from their best.

Tite's side squandered a plethora of chances throughout the match and they struggled to make the most of their 72 per cent possession and 22 shots until the dying moments of the match.

The Selecao were particularly poor when it came from set-plays, rarely sparking danger from their eight corners in the game and looking clueless when it came to indirect free kicks.

In the first half especially the delivery from set-plays around the box was lacking and, even with the imposing physiques of Thiago Silva and Miranda, Brazil rarely posed an aerial threat in the box.

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