Just Four Things: Brazil Vs. Belgium

Credit: GettyImages

Belgian Samba

Considering who was involved, everyone was expecting the flair that is so attractive to the eyes. We did see just that. The plot twist here was it didn’t come from the country that is so famous for it, Brazil. Rather, it came from their opponents Belgium. Belgium’s lethal front three pulled the strings going forward and Brazil had almost no way to contain them.

Kevin De Bruyne finally got placed in a front three where he can attack with some freedom and the results were potent. Scoring Belgium’s second with an exquisite finish into the lower far post following Romelu Lukaku’s bombing run from his own half to lay the pass off. Lukaku was all over the final third. He didn’t just stay in his centre forward role and drifted in the wings to help distribute the ball. The Manchester United forward trampled all over the Brazilian defence the chance he gets

And how about Eden Hazard? He was usual bright spark and his dribbling made defenders a little unsure of themselves. Did well to keep possession and had a good vision to deliver those quality passes. It’s a shame he couldn’t a goal himself on 62 minutes when his effort went narrowly wide of the far post that would’ve made it three in the night.

Brazil had struggled so bad to stop Belgium’s Three Musketeers. De Bruyne & Hazard were tricky to deal with and Lukaku’s strong presence unnerved the Brazil players. The first half was perhaps the best half these three players have ever played in their international careers, launching those threatening counter-attacks. While Brazil did dominate the second half, the damage was done.

Brazil’s Wasteful Night

Imagine if Thiago Silva had bundled the ball in instead of hitting the post, it would’ve been extremely different but instead, Brazil had to adapt to an unfamiliar position: Trailing from two goals down and chasing the game. Give credit, they did well to put Belgium to the sword but they either wasted a number of glorious chances or Thiabut Courtois will thwart them.

After Thiago Silva’s monumental miss, Brazil did well to discomfort the Belgian back three and played in good balls during the first half, but only missing a teammate to put those into the net. They definitely regret not taking advantage of them because they ended the first half two goals down.

They began the second half with the swagger we are all familiar with. They kept going forward and Belgium rarely won back possession. But Brazil failed to make it count with Courtois saving Douglas Costa’s well-hit low shot and no one got on the end of Marcelo’s stinging low cross that was begging to be put in. But their persistence finally paid off on 76 minutes. Philippe Coutinho’s dink found Renato Augusto’s run, and he headed nicely out of Courtois’ reach to pull on back.

But it was after that goal Brazil was really wasteful. Renato Augusto had a clear sight at goal only a few minutes later just inside the box, but somehow shot wide. Then, Coutinho ran in to collect Neymar’s cutback on the left side with so much space and somehow, his effort went off-target far and wide of the far post. And three minutes in injury time, Coutois pulled off an amazing one-handed save to tip over Neymar’s brilliant shot that was just dipping on-target. Brazil exits the tournament, regretting not putting away those chances.

Felled By Fellaini

Looks like manager Roberto Martinez has identified the danger of placing De Bruyne in the midfield duo with Axel Witsel. With De Bruyne liking to go forward rather than going back to perform defensively, it leaves the midfield a glaring gap and if Brazil won possession back, they can punish Belgium on the break. So Martinez made a few changes to solidify the midfield: Giving Marouane Fellaini a start alongside Witsel while De Bruyne moves up with Hazard & Lukaku.

Belgium needed more muscle to at least give their Brazilian counterparts a hard time. Fellaini deserves a good amount of credit for being all over a few Brazil players. He used his physique to shake them off to win the ball and of course winning aerial battles. He was tasked to create the usual chaos his body is so good at and he did carried out his job well

Eurovision

These set of Belgium players are definitely the best batch they had since 1986 where the last time the country reached the semi-finals. Back then, they had the likes of Jean-Marie Pfaff, Enzo Scifo and Jan Ceulemans where they finished fourth having been KO’d by Argentina in the semi-finals. Having beaten a Brazil team full of talent, they can believe they will win the World Cup.

With Brazil’s elimination, all the teams that remain in the tournament are from Europe. South American teams once again didn’t turn up in European soil as they have a bad history when the World Cup is hosted in Europe. You have to go all the way back to 1958 when a South American team won the World Cup where Brazil (Featuring a then 17-year old Pele) beat host nation Sweden 5-2.

This also makes it four years in a row a European country will win the World Cup. Given how this World Cup played out, it’s anyone’s guess now