Kevin De Bruyne's outstanding strike to put Belgium 2-0 up silenced Brazil's thousands of fans in Kazan. Photo / Getty Images
Kevin De Bruyne's outstanding strike to put Belgium 2-0 up silenced Brazil's thousands of fans in Kazan. Photo / Getty Images
Brazil's modern World Cup drought is starting to reach All Black proportions.
The Selecao are sometimes compared with New Zealand's rugby team, given the historical dominance of their sports.
That's not completely accurate - given the relative depth of the football and rugby - but the shock when either team exit their World Cups prematurely is similar.
It's not supposed to happen and it's hard to understand when it does.
But the South Americans will now have to wait until 2022 for another chance at lifting football's grandest trophy, representing 20 years since their last triumph in Japan and South Korea, after their 2-1 loss to Belgium yesterday.
And like the All Blacks from 1991 to 2007, they seem to have misplaced the formula for success.
After reaching three consecutive finals from 1994 to 2002, they have now exited at the quarter-final stage in three of the last four World Cups, as well as suffering an awful 7-1 defeat against Germany in their 2014 semifinal.
Dreams died in Kazan and in a most unexpected way.
The hype had been building around this Brazil team after their record-setting performances in qualifying and some delightful football in the first fortnight in Russia.
More than 20,000 supporters had flooded into the city, located more than 800km east of Moscow, in the grandly named Republic of Tatarstan.
Hopes were high before the match. Some fans had forked out more than US$4000 for a 'finals package' of tickets.
Another Brazilian supporter was heading home last week but got so excited at Frankfurt airport when the news came through about Brazil's win over Mexico, she rebooked her flight and returned to Russia.
Belgium looked more of a team unit than Brazil. Photo / Photosport
"I had to come," she told the Herald on Sunday. "This is the chance to see history ... this is a very good team now."
Brazilians took over the main streets and squares of Kazan the night before the match, with their drums and dancing, while the few hundred Belgian fans in town kept a low profile.
The match started in a carnival atmosphere, as Brazil's passage to the St Petersburg semifinal seemed a fait accompli.
But there were early danger signs for Brazil. They missed three good chances, failing to react to balls falling in the penalty area but seemed to have the attitude, that another opportunity would come.
Instead, there was the bizarre own goal off Fernandinho, followed by Kevin De Bruyne's wonder strike after a lightning Belgium counter-attack.
Brazil were stunned. Their fans fell silent for a period, not able to comprehend what they had seen. Brazil dominated possession but were guilty of trying to pick the lock when sometimes the door needed to be banged down. There were intricate, pretty triangles on both flanks but they were often of the Bermuda variety, ie. going nowhere.
The South Americans were significantly better in the second half, helped by a change in tactics and some timely substitutions.
With Renato Augusto's 76th minute goal, the yellow shirts in the crowd went crazy, but Philippe Coutinho and Neymar missed subsequent chances that signalled it wasn't their day.
And while Belgium were excellent, little things conspired against Brazil. They badly missed the suspended Casemiro, and Marcelo struggled on his return from injury.
There was also a decent penalty shout in the second half, when Vincent Kompany seemed to sweep the legs of Gabriel Jesus, but the VAR panel found no foul.
But too often Brazil looked like a group of individuals, looking to Neymar to spark them, while Belgium were the quintessential team unit. And they'll be hard to beat from here.
