Brazil vs Costa Rica live blog, full-time: Coutinho, Neymar give Brazil three big points

FULL-TIME, Brazil 2-0 Costa Rica: Aaaaaaaaaaaand breathe. What drama. What a win for Brazil. And Philippe Coutinho has been by far their best player. Screw you, Ney.

GOAL! BRAZIL 2-0 Costa Rica (Neymar 90’+7): This is now officially over as Neymar scores his first goal of the tournament with an easy tap-in.

GOAL! BRASIL 1-0 Costa Rica (Coutinho 90’+1): COUTINHO SAVES!!!!!!! Brazil pressed and pressed and pressed in the second half, and Philippe Coutinho comes up with an injury time winner!!!!

HALFTIME, Brazil 0-0 Costa Rica: And so ends the most boring 45 minutes of football in the history of the World Cup. This game sucks.

KICKOFF! Brazil 0-0 Costa Rica: Come on, boys! Don’t give me a heart attack.

LINEUPS

BRAZIL

Starting XI: Alisson; Fágner, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Marcelo; Paulinho, Casemiro, Coutinho; Willian, Gabriel Jesus, Neymar

Bench: Ederson (GK), Cássio (GK), Marquinhos, Pedro Geromel, Filipe Luis, Fernandinho, Fred, Renato Augusto, Douglas Costa, Taison, Roberto Firmino

COSTA RICA

Starting XI: Navas; Duarte, González, Acosta; Gamboa, Borges, Guzmán, Oviedo; Bryan, Ureña, Venegas

Bench: Pemberton (GK), Moreira (GK), Smith, Bolaños, Colindres, Campbell, Wallace, Azofeifa, Calvo, Tejeda, Waston, Gutiérrez

World Cup Day 9 is upon us! The first eight days have been absolutely crazy, and this is quickly turning into a memorable tournament. Lionel Messi is almost out, Germany may be in trouble, and the favorites are... Russia and Croatia?

We need a big team to restore normality to this damn thing, and Brazil might just be the one to do it. After a disappointing performance and result against Switzerland, the Seleção plays its second group stage match against Costa Rica, and this could be the game that turns them into favorites.

Brazil have struggled against Europeans and murdered Latino teams, and after struggling against Switzerland is only fitting that they destroy Costa Rica. Philippe Coutinho, Paulinho and Co. could score a lot of goals against a very bad defense, and a dominant win will give Brazil the necessary confidence to reach the latter stages of the tournament and show all of their quality.

This could be the most lopsided win of the tournament so far (even bigger than Russia against Saudi Arabia!), so you cannot miss it. And you should also join us in the live blog when the lineups come out!

MATCH INFO

Date/Time: Friday, June 22, 2018, 2pm CET (Barcelona), 1pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 8am EST, 5am PST (USA), 5.30pm IST (India)

Venue: Saint Petersburg Stadium, St. Petersburg

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM WORLD CUP

How to watch on TV: Fox Sports 1 (USA), ITV 1 (UK), SuperSport 3 (Nigeria), Sony ESPN (India), TSN (Canada), others

How to stream: ITV Hub (UK), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)

Matchday Thread Rules

We don’t have a lot of rules here, but there are a few things to keep in mind when joining our matchday threads:

Even if the referee sucks or we lose the game, no swearing. It’s just unnecessary. Also, don’t discuss illegal streaming links. Those who do will be warned, and those who post links will be banned. Finally, be nice to each other. This is a Barcelona community and we don’t need to offend one another, especially when it’s the World Cup.

Have fun with the game! Forever and ever, no matter the competition, VISCA EL BARÇA!