Swiss give wake-up call to Brazil

ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 18 

After failing to live up to pre-tournament hype with a disappointing 1-1 draw in their World Cup opener against Switzerland, Brazil need to quickly find a key to unlock opponents happy to sit back and defend for most of the game.

The five-times winners showed encouraging signs in the first half of Sunday's game as they took the initiative, although their only way past Vladimir Petkovic's disciplined outfit was thanks to a stunning long-range strike from Philippe Coutinho.

Brazil's frequent attempts to play into the penalty area were repeatedly thwarted by a resolute Swiss defence as a nervous-looking Neymar failed to shine, leaving man-of-the-match Coutinho to do all the work in engineering attacks.

They will face a similar challenge finding space in attack against their next opponents Costa Rica, who play with a five-man defence and were only beaten 1-0 by Serbia due to an outstanding free kick from Aleksandar Kolarov.

Coach Tite said his side suffered from anxiety during the game, the first time Brazil have not won a World Cup opener since 1978, urging them to keep their heads when they got into shooting positions. “We need to stay cool when we shoot and be more precise,” he told reporters. — Reuters