Kathmandu:Vinicius Junior opened the scoring early on when he punished a slack Scott McKenna backpass, before doubling his tally with a header. Matheus Cunha scored Brazil’s third after fine work from Bruno Guimaraes.
Brazil will now face a round-of-32 fixture against the runners-up from Group F, currently projected to be Japan. Morocco will face the winners of that group, most likely the Netherlands.
Scotland’s hopes of reaching the knockouts are not over, as they could yet qualify as one of the best third-placed teams. Our forecast gives them a 55 per cent chance of going through despite their -3 goal difference.
Brazil have extended their streak of finishing in first place in every one of their groups at the World Cup since 1982. The last time they failed to do so was 1978, when Austria pipped them to top spot. They wound up finishing in third place in the 1978 tournament.
Not to be outdone by Bruno Guimaraes, Vinicius Junior has scored four goals so far, tied for the most by a Brazilian player in a first group stage in the World Cup, alongside Ronaldo (2002), Neymar (2014) and Jairzinho (1970).
Since 2000, only two Brazilians have recorded multiple assists in a single game at the World Cup – Kaka and now, Bruno Guimaraes.
With his assist on Vini Jr’s opening goal, Rayan (19 years, 325 days) became the youngest Brazilian on record (since 1966) to record an assist at the World Cup, surpassing Müller (20 years 132 days) against Northern Ireland in 1986.
Scotland’s biggest undoing in this tournament has been their struggle to create scoring chances. To that end: Scott McTominay’s header in the 49th minute was their first shot in target in 200 minutes, since John McGinn’s goal against Haiti in their opening match.
Now that Neymar was able to navigate his return to action for Brazil at this tournament, it will be worth monitoring what his role will be in the knockout stage.
Perhaps a good bet that he will be utilised as a spark off the bench, as it would be unrealistic to expect more much from him at this stage, but there will always be a desire from the Brazilian fans to watch him play.
And as for who Brazil will face in the round of 32, it’ll be the runner-up from Group F, so definitely one of the three teams above.Speaking of the Golden Boot race, Vini Jr’s double has kept him right in the thick of things. He’s played one more game than most of the names on the list above, but he’s definitely got a chance of taking home the prize. Source-nytimes.com
