Brazil star Neymar said he feared injury against an uncompromising South Korea after firing the visitors to a 2-0 friendly international win with a trademark free-kick on Saturday.
The Barcelona forward curled his shot past South Korea goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong just before halftime, with Chelsea’s Oscar getting the visitors’ second shortly after the break.
Neymar, 21, had been a doubt for the game after a heavy fall in training, and he was hit with some tough challenges and constant close marking in front of a near-capacity crowd.
Photo: AFP
The Brazilian threw up his hands in exasperation and had a few testy moments, even getting into a shoving match near the dugouts late in the first half. However, the young idol had the last laugh at Seoul World Cup Stadium when he thumped his strike over the wall and to the right of Jung, who got a hand to the ball, but could not keep it out.
“I expected a difficult match and the South Koreans kept playing me physically. It wasn’t one particular player, everyone was the same,” Neymar said. “I’m used to hard tackles, but I was a bit worried because I could have been injured. I didn’t want to score on a free-kick, I’d much rather have scored [from open play].”
Neymar was targeted from start to finish as Hong Myung-bo’s team, already qualified for next year’s FIFA World Cup finals, opted for tactics of harassment and frustration.
“I think we simply played football, whereas South Korea tried too hard,” Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “In the first half, they had twice as many fouls as we had. I think they were fouling too much early on.”
Hong defended his players’ physical play, saying they “played it fair and didn’t lose their cool.”
“Some of our players are still young and I think they will learn from this experience,” said Hong, who has just one victory in seven matches since taking over in June. “I am sure they gained confidence from this and it’s an important part of our team. That alone is a major plus for us.”
After a tepid start to the game, Neymar took the ball in midfield and danced through defenders before threading a pass to Oscar, whose shot flew over the bar, but after being brought down for the umpteenth time, Neymar took matters into his own hands as he opened the scoring with his free-kick.
Brazil doubled their lead three minutes into the second half.
Paulinho put Oscar through and the midfielder went past the helpless Jung, before putting the ball into the gaping net.
South Korea brought on Son Heung-min in the 65th minute, hoping the Bayer 04 Leverkusen winger could add some spark to their lethargic attack and the home side were more lively in the last half-hour, with Lee Chung-yong heading a corner wide in the 68th minute.
It was as close as South Korea came to scoring, as the five-time World Cup champions outclassed their hosts.
South Korea next host Mali tomorrow, while Brazil take on Zambia on the same day in Beijing.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two