Opinião – O Mundo É uma Bola: With crippled players, executioner of Brazil in 2018 is in the hot seat at the Cup

The executioner of the Brazilian national team in the 2018 World Cup, in Russia, Belgium, who would say, will play its final match in Group F at a very high risk of elimination in the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar.

It has 3 points in two games, added in the victory in the debut, against Canada, and nothing else, since it lost to Morocco (4 points) in the second.

The fourth team in this group is Croatia (4 points), current world runner-up, coming from a 4-1 defeat of the Canadians (0 points).

The attentive reader will say that “very high risk” is an exaggeration, that it is enough for Belgium, whose team is nicknamed the Red Devils, to beat the Croatians and that’s it, they are qualified for the round of 16.

The math is correct. Just what to win? The football presented by the Belgians in the Qatar World Cup is one of the worst seen so far. Perhaps it surpasses that of the hosts and is equal to that of the Welsh and Uruguayans, of deplorable quality.

However, in comparison with the aforementioned selections, the Belgian landed in the Middle East with favoritism at the heights, listed in second place in the Fifa ranking, behind only Brazil.

Head of the group, it was expected that he would easily pass through Canada and Morocco and reach the final game, this Thursday (1st), at 12h (Brasília time), against Croatia, to dispute the first position, and not with the obligation to win.

A draw, it should be said, may even serve, as long as Canada, eliminated and with almost no motivation (except that it is a World Cup game, which can be an encouraging factor), thrashes Morocco, as a result highly improbable.

The biggest problem for Belgium is football itself, which leaves it in the hot seat (“in an embarrassing way, for an unflattering reason”, according to the Houaiss dictionary).

Canada was struggling for almost the entire match, with Courtois’ goal being bombarded with 22 shots – luckily the Canadians’ aim was off balance. He only found one goal, by Batshuayi, from a kick by the defense that caught the rival defense inattentive.

Roberto Martínez’s team, the Spanish coach who gave Tite a tactical bath in the quarterfinals of the Russian Cup, was equally inoperative against Morocco.

My understanding is that the individualities are so lame that there is no collective agreement that can solve it.

Eden Hazard, the captain, is a holdover, technically and physically, from the quick, skilful and incisive player of four years ago.

De Bruyne, Manchester City star, king of assists, excellent finisher, was drowsy on the field, seemed to act in slow motion.

The centre-half duo, Alderweireld, 33, and Vertonghen, 35, who was no wonder with less years on his back, is frightening due to his lack of mobility.

Even Courtois, the best goalkeeper in the world –who closed the goal in that fateful, for Brazil, duel in Kazan–, contributed to complicate the situation, missing the first Moroccan goal. In a set-piece kick from the left end, without an angle and without much strength, he jumped into the goal, ridiculously.

To complete the scenario of scorched earth, the strong and feared striker Lukaku, the greatest scorer in the history of the Belgian national team, arrived at the Cup “shot”, not fully recovered from a thigh injury. He was out against Canada and only entered against Morocco at 36min of the second half, to do nothing.

It’s all so out of whack that it’s irrational to think that Belgium are in a position to defeat a Croatia rocked by a rout and with their star player, captain Modric, still playing fine at the age of 37, with the stamina of a boy and the will to spare.

And it is the irrational that can save Belgium, as irrationality strikes football when you least expect it.