Brazil reach Round of 16 after a comfortable 3-1 victory against Guinea in thier final Group B.
Leandro and Lincoln controlled the first-half proceedings, with the latter playing a nice through ball a quarter-of-an-hour in to put Leandro alone in the area only for Guinea goalkeeper Moussa Camara to take out the No7 with a sliding challenge, conceding a penalty and picking up a yellow card for his troubles along the way. Lincoln stepped up to the spot and fired it straight down the middle to put A Seleção in front 1-0.
Yamadou Toure came close to equalising for Guinea, but his shot from the top of the box was well saved at Juliano’s near post. Brazil’s goalscorer turned provider in the 33rd minute with a fine free-kick that found Leandro unmarked who headed home comfortably from six yards.
Heading into half-time fully in control, Lincoln was shown a straight red card during a scuffle involving a large, leaving his team-mates a man down to defend their 2-0 lead for the final 45 minutes. Guinea came out strong in the second half, nearly scoring early on if not for more good work from Juliano, who was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers.
Brazil put the match out of reach, however, after a quick counter-attack and an unfortunate missed clearance by Moussa Soumah enabled Arthur to score on an empty net to put A Seleção ahead 3-0. Guinea, to their credit, kept challenging to find a way back into the game and Morlaye Sylla pulled one back with a fine effort from the top of the box, but it was too little too late for the African side.
With this victory, which assure the second place in Group B for Brazil, and Brazil's opponent in the Round of 16 will be the second-place finisher in Group F.
