Brazil Join France In World Cup Knockouts As Ronaldo Eyes Progress

Doha, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Nov, 2022 ) :Brazil joined France in the World Cup knockout rounds on a dramatic day of action in Qatar on Monday as Cristiano Ronaldo seeks to lead Portugal into the last 16.

Cameroon meanwhile battled back from two goals down to draw 3-3 with Serbia while Ghana edged a five-goal thriller against Son Heung-min's South Korea to keep their hopes of progress alive.

Brazil midfielder Casemiro scored the only goal in the 83rd minute in a 1-0 win over Switzerland at Stadium 974 to take the five-time winners through with a game to spare in Group G.

The Brazilians, missing the craft of their injured talisman Neymar, looked as though they would have to settle for a point after a Vinicius Junior strike in the second half was disallowed for offside.

But with seven minutes remaining, Manchester United's Casemiro volleyed home with the help of a slight but significant deflection off Manuel Akanji to break the resistance of the obdurate Swiss.

Tite's side are just the second team to qualify for the last 16 after France and the only side apart from the holders to have won both group matches so far in Qatar.

"The first aim was to qualify. That was really important in a group as difficult as ours," the 30-year-old Casemiro told Brazilian broadcaster SporTV.

Brazil kicked off their campaign in Qatar with a 2-0 victory over Serbia but Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar limped off with an ankle injury.

Despite their smooth progress so far Tite will be desperate to have his star man back in the fold for the knockout rounds.

Earlier, in the same group, Cameroon dug deep to fight back from 3-1 down.

Rigobert Song's team looked almost dead and buried after goals from Strahinja Pavlovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Serbia a two-goal cushion early in the second half.

But substitute Vincent Aboubakar and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting snatched a draw with two quick-fire strikes just after the hour mark to leave both Cameroon and Serbia on a single point with one group match to go.

Switzerland have three points ahead of their final group game against Serbia on Friday.

Song's side must beat Brazil in their final game to have a chance of progressing but he was bullish about their chances.

"We believe we can do it against Brazil," he said.

"We didn't come to the World Cup to just make up the numbers, to take part. We think we can still have a say in the tournament even if we know Brazil are a great team."