Brazil danced their way into the quarter-finals after edging past South Korea by four goals already in the first half.
But the golden candidate’s goal celebration was not appreciated by everyone.
– It’s disrespectful to opponents, says Roy Keane.
It only took seven minutes before it exploded. Vinicius Jr. had time and space in the penalty area and accurately put it 1-0 ahead of Brazil. Then he celebrated with his own dance alongside Neymar and Richarlison.
The Real Madrid player was told earlier this fall to stop dancing, “respect his opponents and stop playing the monkey”. The racist choice of lyrics was met with, among other things, criticism from his national teammates who urged him to keep dancing.
Neymar made it 2-0 shortly after with a penalty kick. The star accepted the ball, and the goalkeeper waited and easily rolled the second. Until then, the brass celebrated with dancing.
“I do not like”
As Brazil pummeled South Korea and Richarlison made it 3-0 after half an hour, even national team captain Tite offered up a few dance moves on the sideline. Before halftime ended, Lucas Paqueta had increased it to 4-0 and the Brazilian joy knew no bounds.
But not everyone appreciated the celebration.
– I do not like this. People say it’s their culture, but they don’t respect opponents. I don’t mind it the first time, but they do it all the time and even the participation of the national team captain, I don’t like it, says Manchester United legend Roy Keane on British ITV.
South Korea took a slight lead in the second half and scored a consolation goal in the 76th minute after Baek Seung-ho pulled away from outside the penalty area.
Brazil will face Croatia in the quarter-finals on Friday.
