Brazil beat Serbia to enter World Cup pre-quarters
Moscow, June 28: Brazil eliminated Serbia with a 2-0 victory as the five-time world champions entered the FIFA World Cup pre-quarter finals by topping the Group E here on Wednesday.
Paulinho (36th minute), Thiago Silva (68th minute) gave the South American powerhouse an easy victory which took their points tally to seven after all the three of their games in the group stage.
Switzerland finished the Group E in the second spot with five points to book a spot in the second round. Serbia finished third with three points and are eliminated alongside Costa Rica.
For Brazil, who had played a 1-1 draw with the Swiss before defeating Costa Rica, the victory over Serbia was soured by a leg injury to Real Madrid left-back Marcelo, who hobbled off the pitch in the opening minutes, reports Xinhua news agency.
Although the scoreline might not have shown it, Brazil dominated the match, save for a 10-minute period in the second half when Serbia laid siege to the South American side's goal.
The five-time world champions began the game full of energy and nearly went ahead in the fourth minute. Philippe Coutinho laid the ball off to Neymar who split Serbia's defence with a one-touch through pass to Gabriel Jesus. The Manchester City forward's shot was saved but the rebound fell to Coutinho and the midfielder crossed to the onrushing Neymar, who sent his first-time effort wide.
Coutinho, Jesus and Neymar caused problems for Serbia's defence, particularly on the left side. The latter two combined superbly just before the half hour mark, but Neymar's curled shot from a tight angle on the left from six yards out was tipped away by Stojkovic.
The pair again showed great understanding when the No. 9 ran onto a perfectly weighted through-ball and cut onto his favoured right foot before having his shot blocked.
Serbia rarely troubled Brazil's defence. Their best chance came just after the half-hour mark when striker Aleksandar Mitrovic sent a bicycle kick over the bar after Dusan Tadic's cross from the left.
Brazil, however, deservingly got ahead when Coutinho spotted a tremendous run from deep by Paulinho and clipped a 25-metre perfect pass through to him. goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic came off his line but Paulinho got a touch on the ball before poking the bouncing ball over him and into the net in the 36th minute.
The European side emerged from the interval with renewed vigour.A Adem Ljajic forced a finger-tip save from Alison and he parried awkwardly to Mitrovic whose diving header was blocked by Silva.
Tadic's delicate chip then sailed narrowly wide of the far post. Serbia had Brazil on the back foot and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic probably should have done better when he fired over with passing options available. Mitrovic then sent a powerful header directly at the goalkeeper.
But Brazil stood firm and scored their second goal against the run of play when Silva rose highest after a Neymar corner from the left to head in at the near post.
Brazil had chances to make it 3-0 with Luis seeing his long-range shot punched clear by Stojkovic and Neymar sending a bouncing shot over the bar.
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MP Raghav Chadha's Z-plus security cover withdrawn by Punjab govt
Chandigarh (PTI): Days after a verbal spat between MP Raghav Chadha and the AAP over his removal from the post of deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, the Punjab government has withdrawn his Z-plus category security cover, it has been learnt.
Chadha is a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab and was accorded by the state government a Z-plus category security cover.
The cover was withdrawn a few days ago, sources said.
The Aam Aadmi Party on April 2 announced the replacement of Chadha with MP Ashok Mittal for the post of deputy leader in Rajya Sabha.
Chadha said he had been "silenced, not defeated", attracting a retort by his party, which accused him of engaging in "soft PR" and restraining himself from raising his voice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre in Parliament.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he believed Chadha was "compromised" for denying the party whip.
"If Chadha is unwilling to speak on issues like the 'deletion' of votes in West Bengal, stage a walkout from Parliament on important issues or raise a voice against the arrest of several AAP volunteers and leaders in Gujarat, then it is breaking the party line and going against the party whip," Mann earlier said.
Punjab AAP leaders, including Cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema, too attacked Chadha, accusing him of failing to raise the state's issues in Parliament.
Responding earlier, Chadha shared a video showing his interventions on key issues affecting Punjab.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress criticised the AAP government over the withdrawal of Chadha's Z-plus security cover.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia alleged that a government which claims to represent ordinary households has completely "politicised" the Punjab Police.
He demanded that the DGP explain the grounds Chadha was earlier granted security and now its withdrawal.
"Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal are misusing the Punjab Police on a large scale for political interests. While police and vigilance agencies are being used against political opponents, the force is not being deployed adequately for the safety of Punjab's people," Majithia alleged in a statement.
He claimed that Chadha was also given a residence in Chandigarh.
Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said the BJP and AAP may pretend to be at loggerheads, but they are two sides of the same coin, "misusing agencies" to settle political scores.
"When it suits them, they scratch each other's back, the security cover to Raghav Chadha exposes this convenient nexus," he said.
"Both have conveniently buried cases like DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar and (former minister) Laljit Singh Bhullar, where no real action has been taken. People can see through this charade, this isn't law taking its course , it's pure 'noora kushti'. Punjabis know that it is collusive politics," Bajwa said on X.
