Presented as the favorites of the competition, the Brazilians were eliminated by Croatia of the World Cup from the quarter-finals, Friday December 9, at the end of the penalty shootout (1-1, 4- 2 Aux T.A.B.).
by hortense leblanc
Do Croats have the magic recipe for winning the penalty shootout? As in the knockout stages against Japan, and as they had already done twice at the 2018 World Cup, the men of Zlatko Dalic won shots on goal, against Brazil, in the quarterfinals of the World Cup finals (1-1, then 4-2 at the T.A.B.), Friday December 9, in Al-Rayyan. The dreams of a sixth star on the jersey are flying away for the Brazilians, who have not won the competition since 2002, despite their almost permanent status of favorites.
After disappointing services during the group phase and during the previous round, Croatia managed to raise its level of play against Neymar and its partners. The Vatreni had probably very well studied their opponent of the day to pose a lot of problems in Brazil in the midfield, thanks to a Luka Modric of the big evenings, brilliant in the first period. But on the return from the locker room, the Seleçao resumed its domination, finding more spaces in the Croatian camp. But she came across a great Dominik Livakovic, decisive with eleven stops, great Savior of Croatia, and logically elected man of the match.
The Malquinhos misfortunes
Pushed into extension by Croatia, Brazil has not resigned itself and continuing to attack, finally finding the fault thanks to Neymar, after a nice collective action (105
During the penalty shootout, the Croats had the advantage of the experience, and an already well -warm guard, unlike the Brazilian Alisson, who made no stop on Friday. Nikola Vlasic scored the first penalty, before Rodrygo sees his arrested by Livakovic, specialist in exercise, in great shape. Lovro Majer, Luka Modric and Mislav Orsic then marked theirs, just like Casemiro and Pedro for Brazil. Marquinhos, already unhappy on equalization, had the ball of hope at the end of the foot for the Seleçao, but sent his shot on the post, eliminating Brazil.
“In football we are subject to what the other team is doing. And we have faced a high quality team. Perhaps we could have been more concentrated at certain times, reacted the Brazilian captain , Thiago Silva, disillusioned, at the microphone of BeIN Sports. Despite this sadness, we have to continue to go ahead. It is difficult to find words. I have already experienced disappointments in life, With selection or elsewhere, but it’s always very bad. “
With this defeat, Brazil is eliminated for the fourth time in the last five World Cups from the fourth time. As for Croatia, she qualified for her third semi-final as a World Cup, after 1998 and 2018, editions that succeeded in the Blues. Crossed destinies?