Brazil's Richarlison's Stunning Goal against Serbia in FIFA World Cup

Richarlison whipped out what could go down as the goal of the tournament to double Brazil's lead in their tournament opener against Serbia.

As starts go, that was pretty impressive. Richarlison’s two goals, the second of which will remain on World Cup highlight reels for ages, gave Brazil a 2–0 win over Serbia on Thursday, and while there will be sterner tests to come, this was a game that asked Brazil a lot of questions and it answered the vast majority of them.

Brazil had not lost its first game at a World Cup since 1934, but, as Argentina and Germany’s defeats had shown, nothing can be taken for granted. At the very least, barring a major shock against Switzerland on Monday, qualification for the last 16 should not really be in doubt.

Richarlison opened the scoring just after the hour mark, following in to net after a Vinicius Jr. shot had been saved.

But he saved the best for the 73rd minute, when he scored with a stunning acrobatic scissor kick after controlling a Vinicius cross.

There had been fears the 25-year-old would not make the Brazil squad for the tournament after he came off with a calf injury playing for Spurs in a Premier League game against his former club Everton in mid-October.

"Four weeks ago I was crying, doubting whether I would come. The day I went for tests was one of the slowest of my life because I was there on the stretcher, waiting to get the results," he said.

"The doctors were going past and I was just nervously waiting.

Tite's side are next in action on Monday when they face Switzerland, who beat Cameroon 1-0 in the other Group G game earlier on Thursday.

"We did the main thing, which was win the first game, which was very important. Now we need to rest and focus on the next one because we still have six important games to come."

Asked about his stunning second goal, which was his 19th in 39 appearances for the Selecao, Richarlison said he had been practicing scoring in such fashion during Brazil's pre-tournament training camp.

 

The reaction of the Serbian players as they left the pitch at halftime said much for their approach and how well they felt it had gone, as they high-fived and congratulated each other. The question, then, was whether they could sustain their concentration and hold out this enormously gifted Brazilian forward line for a full 90 minutes.