Neymar continues goal streak with lovely free kick against Italy

With Italy and Brazil already through to the Confederations Cup semifinals, their match on the final day of Group A play turned into a battle to avoid Spain in the next round. It got off to a tentative start, but Dante put Brazil up 1-0 just before halftime (apparently from an offside position) and Emanuele Giaccherini equalized shortly after the break. That set up Neymar to take the lead back for the home side just four minutes later.

Given a free kick just outside the box after he kicked the back of an Italian defender's leg to make it look like he was fouled, Neymar caught goalkeeper Gigi Buffon cheating the wrong way with a perfectly placed shot into the far side of the net. That gave Neymar his third goal of the tournament (one in each match). Although, he did score in the third minute of the first game and in the ninth minute of the second, so clearly he's losing his touch.

Brazil would extend their lead to two goals when Fred scored in the 66th minute to make it 3-1. Italy then got one back with some confusion in the box off a corner kick as Giorgio Chiellini scored in the 71st minute and Fred ensured Brazil's place atop the group by making it 4-2 in the 88th minute.


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