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Brazil rolls to another win in World Cup

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Neymar lived up to the weighty expectations of the World Cup host nation Monday, setting Brazil on course to clinch its place in the knockout stage with two precision first-half goals in a 4-1 rout of Cameroon.

Fred and Fernandinho added second-half goals to ensure top spot in Group A for Brazil, which will face South American rival Chile in the second round.

More important than the widely expected victory, though, was a performance that restored the confidence of fans after two disappointing matches.

“It was our best match,” Neymar said. “Not only because of the result but also because of how we played. We pressured our opponent just like we wanted. We deserved this result everyone in the team deserves credit for what we did today.”

Neymar scored on either side of midfielder Joel Matip’s goal for Cameroon in the 26th minute.

He opened the scoring off a low cross by midfielder Luiz Gustavo in the 17th, deftly side-footing the ball home from close range, then restored the lead with a low right-foot strike from the top of the penalty area in the 35th after a pass by left back Marcelo.

“I have the responsibility to go out there and help my teammates,” Neymar said. “We all did well today and got the result that we needed.”

Fred found the net in the 49th and the substitute Fernandinho struck in the 84th.

“I liked how the team played,” Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “There were some highs and lows, but in general we improved a little bit more. We are progressing match after match and that’s important.”

Brazil finished Group A with seven points after a 0-0 draw with Mexico and two wins. It ended with the same points as Mexico, but had a better goal difference. The Mexicans eliminated Croatia with a 3-1 win in Recife.

“We knew we had to do better today,” Brazil striker Hulk said. “We had to play better and we did.”

Playing in its 100th World Cup match, Brazil needed at least a draw to advance. Elimination in the group stage would have been unthinkable for the five-time world champions playing at home. The only team to play in all 20 World Cups, Brazil has advanced to the second round in every tournament since 1970.

Boosted by a crowd of nearly 69,112 at the Estadio Nacional in the nation’s capital, Brazil began the match pressuring Cameroon and created many scoring chances early. But the African team eventually picked up the pace and was able to keep the hosts from threatening too much.

Despite playing without Samuel Eto’o because of a lingering right knee injury, Cameroon had a few good chances, even when the match was level in the first half.

“The first half was not so bad, but we need to focus for 90 minutes, and this is not the first time that this happened,” Cameroon coach Volker Finke said. “Some goals were not needed, three times we had the control of the ball and we lost it.”

Mexico 3, Croatia 1: Mexico surged into the World Cup’s knockout stage for a sixth straight time with an emphatic win over Croatia.

Rafael Marquez, Andres Guardado and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored in a 10-minute span in the second half, dooming a talented Croatia side to elimination from the group stage.

The Croatians had to win to advance and held the bulk of possession, but had trouble seriously threatening goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who kept out all efforts in the group stage until an 87th-minute consolation goal from Ivan Perisic.

Netherlands 2, Chile 0: Leroy Fer scored a minute after coming on as a substitute to help give the Netherlands a victory over Chile and seal top spot in Group B with its third consecutive win.

Fer had only just replaced Wesley Sneijder when he rose almost unmarked in the Chile penalty area to put the Dutch ahead with a powerful 77th-minute header. Another substitute, Memphis Depay, tapped in a cross from Arjen Robben in stoppage time to double the lead.

Spain 3, Australia 0: Spain, the 2010 champion, salvaged some World Cup pride with a lopsided win over Australia in its last match at the tournament.

After losing their previous matches in Group B to the Netherlands and Chile, both teams went into the match knowing they could not advance to the second round.

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