The dream of a sixth World Cup trophy for the Seleccao came to an end on Friday night inside the Kazan Arena. After successfully cruising to a 2-0 victory over Mexico at the Round of 16 stage, Tite’s men set up a tough quarter-final clash with Belgium.
They were, however, met with dismay as Eden Hazard and co staged a stronger performance to send crashing home. A 2-1 victory was sealed for the Red Devils as Renato Augusto’s headed goal proved to be inadequate to cancel out Fernandinho own-goal and Kevin De Bruyne’s first-half stunner.
For the fourth consecutive edition of the World Cup, Brazil’s hopes of winning a laurel has been dashed at the knockout stage. In 2006, the Seleccao was eliminated at the quarter-finals via a 1-0 defeat to France.
A 3-0 loss to the Netherlands in the third-place playoff saw them departing South Africa in 2010 without a medal whereas the legend of the 7-1 thrashing by Germany in the quarterfinals at their own backyard in 2014 is still told all over the world.
