Neymar’s Brazil on Friday crashed out of the World Cup, failing to erase the pain of their humiliation on home soil four years ago as Belgium beat them 2-1 to set up a semi-final against France.
Three of Belgium’s “golden generation” — Kevin de Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard — ran riot in the first half in Kazan, as the Red Devils showed impressive resilience to hold on in the second period in the face of incessant pressure.
“These boys deserve to be heroes in Belgium,” coach Roberto Martinez said. “The execution of the tactics was magnificent. It is special and we can’t let the people of Belgium down. We can pass that down the generations — beating Brazil.”
Photo: EPA
Coming into the match, Martinez acknowledged the gulf in World Cup pedigree between his side, who have never been further than the semi-finals, and their rivals.
However, after a bright start from Tite’s team, it was Belgium who looked the more dangerous, scoring through a Fernandinho own-goal in the 13th minute and increasing their lead with a superb De Bruyne strike just after the half-hour mark.
Tite threw on Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino for Willian at halftime and the famous yellow shirts poured forward in increasing desperation, only to find an impenetrable wall at the back.
Substitute Renato Augusto gave Brazil hope with just under a quarter of an hour to go with a deft header into the bottom-right corner of the net.
Neymar had a chance to equalize late in injury time, but Thibaut Courtois produced a magnificent save to tip over the curling effort.
Brazil will have to stand by and watch as a European side win it for the fourth time in a row.
“It’s a heavy, bitter feeling. This was very hard for us to swallow,” said Tite, who refused to be drawn on his future.
FRANCE 2, URUGUAY 0
Earlier, France became the first nation to book their place in the semi-finals, making an ominous statement of intent in easing past Uruguay 2-0.
Uruguay were dealt a devastating blow before kickoff, when Paris Saint-Germain forward Edinson Cavani was ruled out after failing to recover from the injury he picked up in the win against Portugal.
Deschamps said his side had “again raised our level” after the 4-3 win that ended Argentina’s campaign in the last 16.
“I have a good team that still has plenty of room for improvement,” he said. “You can see our lack of experience sometimes, but we have so many qualities too.”
Meanwhile, FIFA president Gianni Infantino told Russian President Vladimir Putin that visitors to the World Cup had fallen “in love with Russia,” during a meeting at the Kremlin.
“Everyone who has been here for a period of time now has discovered a country that we didn’t know,” Infantino said.
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