A little Sikh boy walked out with star forward Neymar Jr for the national anthem ahead of Brazil’s FIFA World Cup 2022 opener vs Serbia on Thursday. 

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“A little Sikh boy standing with Neymar – a symbol of Sikh identity,” Sikh activist Harjinder Singh tweeted. 

“little Singh standing with Neymar! Represent!” another Twitter user said. 

“omfg neymar x little gutti singh 😭” a third one said. 

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Five-time champions Brazil beat Serbia 2-0 to go top of Group G. Richarlison scored a second-half brace in a match at the Lusail Stadium.

After failing to break Serbia’s defense for more than an hour, Richarlison scored twice in nine minutes to hand Brazil an easy win in the end. Vinicius Jr was involved in both goals.

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Brazil had hit the post several times during the match, while Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had also made some crucial saves before Brazil brought out its best in the second-half. However, Serbia’s Alexander Mitrovic and team struggled to make any meaningful impact.

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Brazil made as many as 22 attempts on goal in the match with
eight on target, while Serbia failed to hit the target in their five attempts. Tite’s decision to go with four forwards, Neymar, Vinicius Jr, Raphinha and Richarlison, paid off well as the team dominated the match and made Serbia work hard every time they went forward.

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Serbia have been concerned over the fitness of their all-time highest scorer Mitrovic but coach Dragan Stojkovic named him in the starting lineup.

Neymar, looking for his first major title with Brazil, stayed at 75 goals for the national team, two short of Pele’s scoring record.

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Switzerland now are second in the group G after they beat Cameroon
1-0 and Serbia are bottom. Group H started off with a goalless draw between Uruguay and South Korea at the Education City Stadium. A five-goal thriller at the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium saw Portugal beat Ghana with a 3-2 win in Group H.