Brazil vs Costa Rica: CONMEBOL Copa America – BBC Sport

Brazil started their Copa America campaign with a disappointing goalless draw against Costa Rica in Los Angeles.

The nine-time winners had 74% possession and 19 shots but could not break through in their Group D opener.

Marquinhos had the ball in the net in the 30th minute after tapping in at the back post following a Raphinha free-kick, but the video assistant referee disallowed the ball for offside.

Brazil boss Dorival Jr brought youngsters Endrick, who has signed for Real Madrid, and Savio off the bench but they could not find a winner.

Lucas Paqueta hit the woodwork just after the hour mark, spurning two late chances from good positions at the SoFi Stadium in Hollywood Park.

The West Ham United midfielder acknowledged his side need to improve when they play Paraguay on Saturday (02:00 BST).

“We played a great match, we fought until the end. I had three chances myself. We were frustrated that we didn’t win, but we leave with confidence,” said Paqueta.

“We played our game. We have to improve our finishing, especially myself, so that we can win.”

Costa Rica coach Gustavo Alfaro made a movie analogy to emphasize how much his team had been written off before the match had even started.

“We were Bruce Willis in ‘The Sixth Sense,’ and the only one who didn’t know he was dead was him, right?” he said.

“Well, in our case, everyone thought we were dead before the movie started.”