Neymar the inspiration as Brazil march on to World Cup quarter-finals


Richard Jolly
  • English
  • Arabic

If one magnificent obsession has brought nothing but frustration, another may yet result in elation.

Mexico’s quest to reach a World Cup quarter-final on foreign soil came to its usual conclusion, with a seventh successive last-16 exit for international football’s most consistent team.

Brazil’s bid for redemption after 2014’s 7-1 defeat to Germany, however, has gathered pace.

Neymar’s attempt to exert the decisive impact that injury ensured he could not four years ago is looking better.

This time, he is getting fitter as a tournament progresses. His best display in Russia yielded a goal and an assist.

Brazil chalked up their third consecutive 2-0 win to look immune to the upsets affecting the other favourites and Mexico, as ever, went home when the quarter-finals had beckoned.

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They found Neymar an irrepressible irritant. He endeared with his skills and alienated with his histrionics. Miguel Layun could have been sent off for standing on his leg, though Neymar overreacted to it.

Edson Alvarez and Carlos Salcedo were cautioned for fouls on him but despite a willingness to endorse the illegal, Mexico could not halt him.

Neymar served as scorer and supplier for the two goals. While he can seem a showpony, his trickery is not merely self-indulgent flicks and tricks. There is an end product.

A backheel to release Willian led to the breakthrough. The winger showed more penetration than he had done beforehand in the tournament with a direct run.

Whether what followed was a cross or shot was a moot point: Neymar turned it into the former by sliding in for a tap in.

When Neymar escaped in the inside-left channel, Guillermo Ochoa got a touch to his shot. Roberto Firmino benefited with the simplest of finishes. Neymar had set up Gabriel Jesus, too, when Ochoa had to parry a stinging drive.

Brazil’s first-choice forward is yet to open his account for the tournament, and the substitute striker Firmino’s goal may prompt calls for a change in the forward pecking order.

Brazil’s better work came on either side of the attack. Willian had not found form in the group stages and may have owed his place to Douglas Costa’s absence, but he excelled with a series of driving runs.

Neymar prospered in the inside-left channel and, after one slaloming solo run, he drew a fine save from Ochoa.

He was not alone in that respect. The Mexico goalkeeper delivered a man-of-the-match display against Brazil in the 2014 World Cup. He produced something of an encore with eight saves; only Ochoa himself, with nine against Germany, has made more in a game.

Phillipe Coutinho, Paulinho and Willian could all testify to his agility, yet their second-half shots were signs that Brazil were finding space more frequently.

They had been penned back earlier. Mexico began at pace. Yet it was energy against quality and when Mexico tired, Brazil’s greater talent told.

It has been allied with sturdiness. They have been professional rather than perfect but they are a team built on solid foundations.

Allisson had to tip a long-range Carlos Vela shot over but had little else to do. Brazil have only conceded six times in Tite’s 22-game reign and Miranda illustrated why with some telling blocks.

He allowed them to weather the early storm even if an ally, defensive midfielder Casemiro, will be banned for the quarter-final after being booked.

Mexico’s wait for a first World Cup goal against Brazil continues but at least an idiosyncratic side brought ideas.

Adventurous and able to press, they are a rarity in their capacity to play with a coherence of the club team.

Juan Carlos Osorio counts as one of the more original thinkers among the managers. He swapped his wingers, allowing Hirving Lozano to further bolster a burgeoning reputation by cutting in from the right and Carlos Vela to trouble Brazil right-back Fagner; he may lose out to Danilo for future fixtures.

Mexico also left three men forward when defending corners. It enabled them to break quickly. Yet their signature selection involved a rather slower player with the choice of Rafael Marquez in the starting 11.

The 39-year-old became the oldest outfield player to figure in the tournament’s knockout stages since Stanley Matthews in 1954 and the first to captain a side in five World Cups. He was also the first to leave this game, substituted after 45 minutes.

Unless Marquez abandons plans to retire, this was his final game. A career of astonishing longevity has been defined in part by last-16 exits.

Neymar hopes his will be defined when altogether bigger prizes are on offer.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
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Based: Dubai, UAE
 
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Top financial tips for graduates

Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:

1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.

2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.

3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.

4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Updated team: 15-Israel Folau, 14-Dane Haylett-Petty, 13-Reece Hodge, 12-Matt Toomua, 11-Marika Koroibete, 10-Kurtley Beale, 9-Will Genia, 8-Pete Samu, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-Lukhan Tui, 5-Adam Coleman, 4-Rory Arnold, 3-Allan Alaalatoa, 2-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1-Scott Sio.

Replacements: 16-Folau Faingaa, 17-Tom Robertson, 18-Taniela Tupou, 19-Izack Rodda, 20-Ned Hanigan, 21-Joe Powell, 22-Bernard Foley, 23-Jack Maddocks.

Key facilities
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THREE
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Ahmed Raza

UAE cricket captain

Age: 31

Born: Sharjah

Role: Left-arm spinner

One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95

T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28

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8.15pm: UAE Oaks – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,900m

8.50pm: Zabeel Mile – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,600m

9.25pm: Balanchine – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m

10pm: Al Shindagha Sprint – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m

The stats

Ship name: MSC Bellissima

Ship class: Meraviglia Class

Delivery date: February 27, 2019

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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
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  3. Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
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*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

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The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


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Under 12 – Minerva Academy

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Weiser (40')

How it works

Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.

Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.

As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.

A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.

Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.

FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

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Key recommendations
  • Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
  • Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
  • Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
  • More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
'My Son'

Director: Christian Carion

Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis

Rating: 2/5

MATCH INFO

Euro 2020 qualifier

Russia v Scotland, Thursday, 10.45pm (UAE)

TV: Match on BeIN Sports 

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Turkish Ladies

Various artists, Sony Music Turkey 

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Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif

Based: Manama, Bahrain

Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation

Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads

Stage: 1 ($100,000)

Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)

Prop idols

Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.

Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)

An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.

----

Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)

Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.

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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)

Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.

WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

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