Monitoring Desk
\nSEOUL
\nNeymar scored two calmly taken penalties to move to within four goals of Pele at the top of the country\u2019s all-time scoring list as fired a World Cup warning with a 5-1 thrashing of fellow qualifiers South Korea at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday.
\nNeymar\u2019s status for the match had been up in the air after he suffered a right foot injury during training on Wednesday but he was the star of the show, netting either side of halftime to move onto 73 goals in 118 appearances for his country and close in on the three-time World Cup winner\u2019s record in a comfortable win for Tite\u2019s side.
\nRicharlison gave Brazil the lead in the seventh minute and, although Hwang Ui-jo levelled for Korea just after the half-hour mark, it was the visitors who always looked more likely to prevail.
\nNeymar netted from the spot to put his side back in front three minutes before halftime and he was on hand with another penalty in the 57th minute before late goals from Philippe Coutinho and Gabriel Jesus put the seal on a comprehensive win.
\nBrazil will next play Japan in Tokyo on Monday, while South Korea host Chile on the same day.
\nWorld Cup-bound Japan said they were primed to test themselves against the mighty Brazil after a comprehensive 4-1 win over Paraguay in Sapporo on Thursday.
\nStriker Takuma Asano opened the scoring against Paraguay with a clinical finish in the 36th minute and Daichi Kamada doubled his side\u2019s advantage six minutes later to hand Hajime Moriyasu\u2019s team a two-goal cushion.
\nDerlis Gonzalez pulled one back for the visitors in the 59th minute, but Kaoru Mitoma struck less than a minute later, before Ao Tanaka came off the bench to hit a late fourth after Ritsu Doan had seen his penalty saved.
\n\u201cWe are facing Brazil next and they play at a high level,\u201d said Asano. \u201cWe need to see what we\u2019re capable of doing against them and we just have to throw everything at them and try to keep that going.\u201d
\nOn Wednesday, Australia overhauled Jordan 2-1 in a friendly in Doha to bring winning form into their World Cup playoff against the United Arab Emirates next week.
\nAwer Mabil sealed the win with a clever volley in the 68th minute after Bailey Wright cancelled out a stunning long-range strike from Mousa Al-Tamari early on.
\nShould Australia get past UAE on Tuesday, they will battle Peru in an intercontinental playoff in the Qatari capital six days later for a spot in Group \u2018D\u2019 at the World Cup.
\nElsewhere, Chelsea star Christian Pulisic played a leading role as the United States launched their final preparations for the World Cup with a convincing 3-0 friendly win over fellow qualifiers Morocco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monitoring Desk SEOUL Neymar scored two calmly taken penalties to move to within four goals of Pele at the top of the country\u2019s all-time scoring list as fired a World Cup warning with a 5-1 thrashing of fellow qualifiers South Korea at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday. Neymar\u2019s status for the match had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[2552,4869,8111,1693],"class_list":{"0":"post-264434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-neymar","10":"tag-spot","11":"tag-win"},"yoast_head":"\n