Well, that was late; and indeed a little ugly at times. On a breezy afternoon by the Gulf of Finland Brazil beat Costa Rica 2-0 at the St Petersburg Stadium to ease their route towards the knockout stage of Russia 2018.

The goals were both scored in injury time, the first by their best player on the day Philippe Coutinho, who came haring through a crowd on to a touch from Gabriel Jesus to poke the ball through the legs of Keylor Navas and send the yellow-shirted stands into a fever.

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As the clock ticked down Neymar added a second, the Costa Rica defence finally parting after some fine, dogged efforts. Brazil’s captain celebrated like a World Cup winner after stabbing the ball into the net from Douglas Costa’s cross. And it was an eventful day all round for Neymar, who grumbled and moaned and threw himself to the floor, and might have been sent off in the second half for a combination of dissent and diving.

At the final whistle the world’s costliest player could be seen weeping dramatically on the pitch, shoulders shuddering, hands shielding his visage from the world. Indeed.

Brazil have four points in Group E. A draw with Serbia will guarantee progress. This game will be remembered for Coutinho’s fine driving efforts in central midfield and for some well-timed substitutions by Tite. But it will also be coloured by Neymar’s preposterous antics, and for a sense of lost focus at various stages.

A turning point seemed to have arrived around the hour mark as the referee Björn Kuipers of the Netherlands, finally snapped. As Brazil defended a corner Kuipers could be seen telling Brazil’s captain to be quiet in the way an exasperated father might speak to a sullen and spoiled teenager.

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Seventeen minutes later Kuipers was finally beaten into submission. No doubt it wears you down. As Giancarlo González brushed the Neymar abdomen with his hand Brazil’s captain toppled backwards in ludicrous fashion, a dying sapling swept away by a mudslide. Kuipers gave the penalty. Neymar lay on the floor being nursed by his teammates, as though finally victorious in his battle with injustice.

Out of his sight Kuipers trotted off, looked at the VAR screen, and reversed the decision. He should also have booked Neymar for cheating. But well-played Mr Kuipers. A penalty would have been reward for superstar strops and generally graceless behaviour. A Brazil World Cup campaign is a notch in the nation’s pop-cultural history. It deserves better than this.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Neymar claims for a penalty as he goes down after the slightest of touches from Giancarlo González. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

This World Cup has been waiting for a statement performance, for one of the more celebrated teams to decide that in fact this tournament is there for the taking if somebody can get the thrusters lined up. This wasn’t it from Brazil, at least not for the opening 85 minutes.

Hopes had been high at kick-off. The stadium in St Petersburg is a stunning thing with a roof fanned out around steel girders of dizzying scale, ranged above the pitch like an iron giant cradling his fingers.

Brazil did press hard at the start, Coutinho shooting just over after Bryan Ruiz had given him the ball. After which, the congealment. The blue shirts were slow through midfield, a porridge of sideways passing. It was Costa Rica who should have taken the lead on 12 minutes, as Celso Borges shot low and hard but past the left-hand post from a cut-back from Ruiz.

Neymar began to intrude, writhing and leaping at every challenge. He is targeted for rough treatment but he invites it too, never once hiding his disgust and his distraction.

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Again he went down, this time after “putting a hat on” Cristian Gamboa (nicking the ball over his head) a terrible humiliation in Brazilian football. Again there were chunterings to the referee, constant close-ups of that pained Neymar face. This is a different player right now to the sprightly warrior of 2014, transformed into a mardy drama magnet. Life moves pretty fast, Neymar old boy. If you don’t stop rolling around once in awhile, you could miss it.

As the teams penetrated the dressing rooms at half-time Neymar approached the referee and prattled on some more. Clearly he has rushed his way back to this tournament. But he doesn’t deal with rustiness well. And he was overshadowed by Coutinho here, who was the hub of the team and who should be given as much leverage as he likes to make the game up in front of him.

Tite took off Willian at half-time and put on the more direct Douglas Costa. Suddenly Brazil were surging forward, Gabriel Jesus heading powerfully on to the bar from a Costa cross. The ball bounced out to Coutinho whose shot was deflected just wide by Gamboa.

Tite twisted again, bringing on Roberto Firmino for Paulinho. Neymar shot wide of the post on the run with space in front of him. And moments late he was finally booked, this time for a pathetic hissy fit after a foul. Two late goals disguised a distracted performance that improved as the tempo rose but Tite will have plenty to ponder from here.