Internationals – Richarlison bags spectacular brace, Son and Bentancur share spoils
Thu 24 November 2022, 21:17|
Tottenham Hotspur
Richarlison became our first player to score at this year’s World Cup on Thursday night, netting both goals in Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia – including a stunning Goal of the Tournament contender.
Named in the Seleção starting line-up for their opening game in Group G in Lusail, the forward persevered throughout a tough first half before breaking the deadlock on 62 minutes, reacting quickly to turn home the rebound after Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had saved Vinicius Junior’s effort.
But it was his second of the night 11 minutes later that grabbed the headlines. Vinicius was again involved, getting down the left side of the box before finding Richarlison in the centre, who took a touch, swiveled and struck an acrobatic volley into the net.
Withdrawn 11 minutes from time, Richy received plenty of praise from team-mates, pundits and fans alike after what will surely go down as one of the best strikes of this and any World Cup.
Earlier in the day in Al Rayyan, club team-mates Rodrigo Bentancur and Heung-Min Son went head-to-head as Uruguay battled out a goalless draw with South Korea in Group H.
Both players completed the full 90 minutes, with South Korea captain Sonny going close to a late breakthrough with a low shot from outside the box, but it zipped across goal and wide as the points were shared.
A number of our players are set for action in Qatar on Friday, starting with Ben Davies and Joe Rodon as Wales take on Iran in Group B at 10am UK time. Pape Matar Sarr’s Senegal then meet the host nation in Group A at 1pm UK, before Eric Dier and Harry Kane’s England face USA in Group B at 7pm UK.
