FIFA World Cup 2018: Brazil beat Costa Rica 2-0, top Group E - As it happened

Costa Rica survived the Brazilian strikes for 90 minutes and nearly pulled off a draw but Coutinho and Neymar scored in the Stoppage time, to the knock the Central Americans out of the tournament.

Pic courtesy: IANS

Brazil displayed effortless quality up front to beat resilient Costa Rica 2-0, knocking the Central Americans out of the tournament. Costa Rica survived the Brazilian strikes for 90 minutes and nearly pulled off a draw but Coutinho and Neymar scored in the Stoppage time, guiding Brazil to the top position in Group E. After two defeats in two matches Costa Rica find themselves out of the tournament and play for pride in their final group match against Switzerland on Wednesday. 

Follow the match updates:

Brazil 2-0 Costa Rica!

FULL TIME

90+7 minute: GOAL!!!! Neymar slides it into the net in the stoppage time to score his first goal at 2018 FIFA World cup. 

90+3 minute: Substitution for Brazil. Coach Tite opts for a defensive change after that goal, as Fernandinho replaces Gabriel Jesus. 

90+1 minute: GOAL!!! Gabriel Jesus sets it up for Philippe Coutinho who pops it into the Costa Rican goal. Brazil finally have the goal. 

6 minutes of Stoppage time!

88 minute: Free-kick to Brazil but Navas punches it away, the Costa Ricans are starting to frustrate Brazilians with their brilliant defending. 

87 minute: Another shot on the Costa Rican goal by Brazil's Casemiro but goalkeeper Navas has been on top of his game today.  

4 minutes to go!

84 minute: Yellow card! Acosta gets a yellow card for wasting time. Series of Yellow cards in the space of three minutes. 

82 minute: Yellow card! Brazil's Philippe Coutinho gets a yellow card. 

81 minute: Yellow card! Neymar gets booked for bad behaviour. 

78 minute: Neymar goes down theatrically in the Costa Rican penalty box. The referee calls for VAR and disallows the penalty and foul after he gave the penalty in the first place. 

75 minute: Corner to Brazil. The Brazilians have played effortlessly in the final third but need to make the most of their chances if they want to take away three points from this match.

71 minute:  NEYMAR!! He finds up front and has a shot on the Costa Rican target but clouds it away from the goal. That was close! 

69 minute: Corner to Brazil!  Casemiro heads the ball directly into the hands of Navas. 

67 minute: Substitution for Brazil. An attacking move by the Brazilian coach as Fermino replaces Paulinho.

65 minute:  Free-kick to Costa Rica after Brazil's Paulinho makes a high boot challenge.

Possession:

Brazil -  70 percent

Costa Rica- 30 percent 

60 minute: Neymar sprints across the Costa Rican half on the counter but makes a poor pass to his teammate. Costa Rican defence are cramping Brazil for space.

58 minute: Free-kick to Costa Rica. The ball gets cleared by the Brazilian defenders. 

56 minute: SAVED!! Navas, the man of the moment, displays great reflexes to deny Brazil a goal. Brazil are clearly frustrated. 

54 minute: Substitution for Costa Rica. Urena is replaced by Bolanos, the only Costa Rican to play in three World cups. 

53 minute: Marcelo tries to find a teammate in the box with a chip shot from the left, the ball goes for a goal-kick. 

49 minute: Brazil are up and attacking but the Costa Rican defence have managed to keep the scoreline intact. Corner for Brazil. 

46 minute: That was close! Costa Rica's goalkeeper Navas save the ball, he did look in trouble with a back pass. 

Second-half is underway!

Brazil 0-0 Costa Rica!

Half-time!

1 minute of Stoppage!

43 minute: The offside flag goes up for the fourth time for Brazil. Free-kick to Costa Rica. 

40 minute: Marcelo finds space right outside the penalty box but fires the ball directly to the Costa Rican goalkeeper. That was the first shot on target by Marcelo. 

38 minute: Corner to Brazil. Wilian hits it past the Brazilian player. Costa Rica on the counter. Off-side. 

36 minute: Throw-in for Costa Rica in their half. Costa Rica finally have the ball but they give away the possession. 

33 minute: Brazilians need to keep the ball on the ground. Costa Rica are forced to defend deep. 

31 minute: Brazil are pushing hard in the final third and keep the goalkeeper busy. But they have failed to hit the target. 

28 minute: NEYMAR! The Brazilian sprints into the penalty box but the goalkeeper blocks it.

26 minute: That was close! Brazil are up and attacking. Gabriel Jesus hits the target but the offside flag goes up. 

Possession 

Brazil- 66  percent

Costa Rica- 34 percent

20 minute: Costa Rican defenders have limited the Brazilian strikers effectively, so far. 

18 minute: Free-kick to Brazil. Neymar goes down again after a challenge from Venegas. 

16 minute: Free-kick to Brazil, but the Costa Rican defender clears the ball with a header. 

12 minute: MISS! That was close! Brilliant run on the right flank by Gamboa who finds Borges in the box but Borges hits it wide. 

9 minute: Free-kick to Brazil. Neymar whips the ball in the middle but the Costa Rican defenders clear it to safety. 

7 minute: Costa Rica's Gamboa attempts a shot from distance but shoots it away from the target. 

4 minute: Brazil's Thiago Silva makes a successful slide tackle in defence. Both teams are pressing up-front. 

3 minute: Philippe Coutinho makes the first shot on the Costa Rican goal but clouds the ball away from the crossbar. Brazil are looking to attack early. 

Kick-off!

Formations for #BRACRC...

Score predictions on this one? pic.twitter.com/VLmhqbXWMK

— FIFA World Cup  (@FIFAWorldCup) June 22, 2018

Lineups:

Brazil XI: Alisson,  Marcelo, Miranda, Thiago Silva, Fagner, Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro, Paulinho, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Wilian

Costa Rica XI: Navas, Acosta, Gonzalez, Duarte, Oviedo, Guzman, Borges, Gamboa, Venegas, Urena, Ruiz

Brazil need to be wary of the speedy Costa Ricans. Argentina's 3-0 loss to Croatia in Group D and Germany going down 0-1 to Mexico in Group F have shown that less fancied teams are fully geared up to take on their mighty rivals.

Brazil have faced Costa Rica 11 times and won nine of them. Brazil's only loss to Costa Rica was way back on March 10, 1960, in the now-defunct Pan American Championship. The two teams have faced off twice in World Cups before with Brazil winning both the encounters. In the 1990 edition Brazil had won 1-0 while the match in 2002 saw Costa Rica losing 2-5.

Costa Rica are aiming to emulate their show in the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil where they progressed to the knockout stages from a group which also had Italy, Uruguay and England.

Full squad:

Brazil: Goalkeepers - Alisson, Ederson, Cassio. Defenders - Danilo, Fagner, Pedro Geromel, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Miranda, Marcelo, Filipe Luis. Midfielders - Casemiro, Fernandinho, Renato Augusto, Fred, Coutinho, Paulinho, Willian. Forwards - Douglas Costa, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, Neymar, Taison

Costa Rica: Goalkeepers - Keylor Navas, Patrick Pemberton, Leonel Moreira. Defenders - Giancarlo Gonzalez, Johnny Acosta, Christian Gamboa, Bryan Oviedo, Oscar Duarte, Francisco Calvo, Kendall Waston, Ronald, Matarrita, Ian Smith. Midfielders - Celso Borges, Christian Bolaños, Randall Azofeifa, Yeltsin Tejeda, David Guzman, Rodney Wallace, Daniel Colindres. Forwards - Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell, Marco Ureña, Johan Venegas