Midfielder Casemiro showed his misfiring strikers how to finish on Monday when he lashed in an unstoppable late shot to give Brazil a 1-0 win over Switzerland that sent them into the World Cup knockout stage with a game to spare.

A largely featureless game had been meandering towards a goalless draw when Casemiro struck seven minutes from time to take Brazil to six points at the top of Group G.

The absence of injured striker Neymar had hung like a shadow over a shoddy Brazil, with only a disallowed goal by Vinicius Jr bringing their huge support to life before the goal.

Brazil have six points, Switzerland three and Cameroon and Serbia, who drew 3-3 earlier on Monday, have one each - with all three teams still in the hunt to progress.