Doha, December 04 (QNA) - The Brazilian national team seek to secure a seat in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 when it meets the South Korean national team on Monday at Stadium 974 in the last 16 at the World Cup.
The five-time world champion will have to reckon with an event-making competitor in the final round of the group stage when it clinched his place in Round of 16 with a historic victory over the Portuguese national team in stoppage time with two goals to one for Group H, revealing great capabilities and a high fighting spirit that might help them achieve what may be impossible by reaching the quarter-finals at the expense of one of the most prominent candidates for the world title.
The Brazilian national team and their coach, Leonardo Bacchi "Tite", are under great pressure during the current stage of the competition due to injuries of a large number of its players, the last of whom was the Brazil duo Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles. In addition to the suffering of the right-back, Danilo, while the mystery still surrounds the condition of Alex Sandro, as well as the largest absentee, Neymar, who suffered an ankle injury in the first match. They were late in joining group training, which means that they could not catch up with the Korea's match in the hope of playing in the next round, but the team has wide options, which keeps the Brazilian team nominated for victory and qualification.
The last appearance of the two teams in the group stage was the opposite of what was expected. At the time when the Brazilian team fell to Cameroon with a goal without a response, without losing the lead in Group G and with a goal difference from Switzerland, the Korean team was surprising the world after he snatched the second qualifying card to the last 16, after defeating the Portuguese national team.
The South Korean national team relies on its star, Son Heung-min, of English Tottenham Hotspur club, who scored the winning goal against Portugal, along with Jae-Sung Lee in German Mainz.
Things now seem completely different from the last meeting of the two teams last June in Seoul, specifically during a Brazilian Asian tour, where Neymar's comrades swept the owner of the land at the time with five goals to one. This match that the Brazilians and their coach Tite would like to put aside during the confrontation on Monday.
The two teams met twice in friendly matches, the first was in October of 2013 and ended with Brazil winning with two goals without a response, and the second in November of 2019 and ended with Brazil winning 3-0 as well. (QNA)