Casemiro scored a late goal on Monday to earn Brazil a dramatic victory over Switzerland in Group G of the ongoing World Cup in Qatar.
The Manchester United striker showed his misfiring strikers how to finish on Monday when he lashed in an unstoppable late shot to give Brazil a 1-0 win over Switzerland that sent them into the World Cup knockout stage with a game to spare.
A largely featureless game had been meandering towards a goalless draw when Casemiro struck seven minutes from time to take Brazil to six points at the top of Group G.
The absence of injured striker Neymar had hung like a shadow over a shoddy Brazil, with only a disallowed goal by Vinicius Jr, chalked off for offside by VAR, bringing their huge support to life before the goal.
The South Americans failed to break down Switzerland in the first-half.
Vinicius Jr thought he had the opening goal midway through the second half, only for Richarlison’s offside to call VAR into action.
The Brazilians are now the only second nation to not face a single shot on target in their first two World Cup games in a single edition.
The only other nation to achieve that feat is France in 1998 when they went on to win the trophy.
No one else has managed that since 1966 when Opta started gathering stats.
Brazil have now moved to the top of Group G with six points and have punched their ticket to the 2022 World Cup’s Last 16.
However, the Selecao haven’t sealed first place as Switzerland are second with three points.
The Swiss, though, will have to wait until the final game of the group stage to find out their World Cup future.
Murat Yakin’s men will face Serbia, who are targeting second place as well as Cameroon.