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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
