Brazil vs Costa Rica VAR Controversy – Disallowed Marquinhos Goal Steals the Show

Brazil vs Costa Rica: Selecao’s defender Marquinhos sees his goal being disallowed

The Brazil vs Costa Rica fixture was the opening match for both sides in their COPA America 2024 campaign. Both sides in Group D faced each other at the SoFi Stadium in the USA. Brazil looked eager to establish a lead in the game to put Costa Rica under severe pressure.

It seemed like their consistent efforts paid off dividends when Selecao’s defender Marquinhos managed to put the ball in the back of the net and started celebrating with his teammates around the 30th-minute mark of the first half. However, the Brazilian player’s celebration took a halt when they realized that the goal is being checked by the VAR for a potential offside call leading to it.

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After checking the footage meticulously and drawing the offside lines, VAR decided to chop the goal off and termed Marquinhos in an off-side position. The decision came as a huge blow to Brazil because the goal if had stood could have given them a lead and something to build on going into the second half of the match. But as it turned out, both the sides went into the break without troubling the scorers.

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Brazil held to a goal-less draw by Costa Rica in their opening Group D fixture

Despite edging the possession stats in the match by registering about 75 per cent of it and having 19 shots towards the goal, Brazil failed to grab all three points against Costa Rica in their opening Group D fixture. The Selecao were left frustrated as they played out a 0-0 draw against Costa Rica.

What stood out was that only three out of their 19 total shots were registered to be on target. One would very often see such stats for the Selecao’s in an important match. Maybe the nerves and the so-called tag going into the match against Costa Rica as the favourites to win played a part in making them feel just a bit restless.

Although on the defensive front, they did look solid, one never expected Costa Rica to breach the Brazilian defence that consistently in the particular fixture. The Selecao’s head coach Dorival Junior did make substitutions in the form of players like Endrick, Gabriel Martinelli, and Savio. But, it didn’t make much of an impact on the result of the game. Brazil currently stands in the second spot in Group D with one point to their name, while Colombia tops the group with a win and three points to their tally.

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