Brazil looked headed for another draw in the World Cup group stage until its biggest stars came alive late. Tied 0-0 with Costa Rica in the 90th minute, Brazil scored two goals in added time to win 2-0 on the boots of Philippe Coutinho and Neymar. Coutinho got the winner in the 91st minute, and Neymar got his goal later in stoppage time as the South Americans move to four points in Group F and have a little breathing room with one match to play.
It felt like it would be a similar result to the opening draw against Switzerland where the ball just didn't want to go in for the Brazilians as Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas did a fine job of keeping them at bay for 90 minutes, but the six added minutes proved to be too much to handle.
Neymar scored his first goal of the cup moments later, as Brazil produced at least a small amount of positive vibes in a cup where South America has really struggled.
Beside Uruguay, no other South American team had won a match until Brazil did so on Friday.
Brazil outshot Costa Rica 23 to 4 over the course of the match with nine on target to zero for the CONCACAF squad.
Neymar and company could see themselves end the day in second place in the group if Serbia beats Switzerland later, but for now, Brazil moves into first and greatly boosts its chances of moving on to the knockout stage.
Brazil (vs. Serbia) and Costa Rica (vs. Switzerland) will both be looking for a win in their final group stage match. Both play on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, but only Brazil can get out of the group, not Costa Rica. With a match still to be played between Serbia and Switzerland, it is unknown just yet what position Brazil will be playing for. You can watch all the World Cup action, including those final Group E games, on fuboTV (Try for free).