The dream of Brazil’s sixth in Qatar is over. Tite’s team was eliminated, once again, in the quarterfinals, after losing on penalties by 4 to 2. In normal time, there was a 0 to 0 draw. Petkovic equalized in the second extra time.
In the kicks, Rodrygo stopped the goalkeeper and Marquinhos, the crossbar. Croatia hit all their kicks.
Now, Croatia awaits the winner of the match between Argentina and the Netherlands, at 4 pm (BrasÃlia time), at the Lusail stadium.
Neymar reached his 77th goal for the Brazilian national team. According to FIFA’s tally, he equaled Pelé’s mark in the yellow shirt as the country’s two top scorers.
The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), however, considers that the King of Football accumulated much more, with 95.
The difference occurs because the maximum football entity only counts games between national teams, while the Brazilian count takes into account games played by Brazil against clubs and combined, something that was common and important when Pelé played.
This time, even with a goal from his number 10, Brazil accumulated another defeat in the quarterfinals. The sixth of its history. Three of those defeats were in the last four editions before Qatar, all against European teams.
In 2006, lost to France. In 2010, it fell to the Netherlands. In Russia, in 2018, the executioner was Belgium. The last time he advanced to the semifinals in the last four editions of the World Cup, he lived his biggest nightmare, with the 7-1 against Germany, in 2014.
Interestingly, the country had not beaten a European opponent in the knockout stage since defeating the Germans in the 2002 final.
Against Croatia, for the first time in this World Cup, Tite managed to repeat a lineup, something that successive injuries in the squad prevented him from doing before. With Neymar in the middle, Danilo and Éder Militão on the wings, he fielded the same formation that defeated South Korea, 4-1.
Against the Croatians, however, the story was very different. Instead of dominating the opponent as he did with the Koreans, he ended up getting caught up in his opponent’s pace. He had his hardest 45 minutes in the first half.
With the exception of weak shots, goalkeeper Dominik Livaković did little work. It’s true that Alisson wasn’t too demanding either, but Croatia’s arrivals brought more danger to his area.
In a rare moment, the Brazilian number 1 even made a silly mistake in a ball outing, putting Casemiro at the stake. The midfielder lost the ball, but the defense managed to recover and clear a cross from Luka Modric
While Neymar was out in the early stages, the Croatia number 10 dictated the pace in such a way that he was more comfortable for his team, only speeding up the game in crucial moments.
It was the perfect tactic for those who reached the quarterfinals with more minutes played, especially for having played extra time before beating Japan in the penalty shootout in the round of 16.
On average, Croatia players played 66 minutes more than Brazilians until this stage, according to a survey by Folha. The statistic considers the 16 most active athletes from the two teams (11 starters and 5 substitutes).
There are 221 on the Brazilians’ chronometer, the lowest average among the eight teams classified for this phase. At the other extreme of this ranking, Croatians register 287.
Historically, it hasn’t usually been a problem for them. In 2018, they reached the final playing overtime in all knockout stages. Only in the final did he play 90 minutes, when he lost to France, by 4 to 2.
Therefore, a slower pace was of interest to Zlatko Dalić’s team. The score zeroed before the break ended up being better for the Brazilians.
With the same formation as in the first half, Brazil returned from the break with more momentum. He even complained about a penalty, at 3 minutes, but the VAR (video referee) did not consider the hand touch of a Croatian defender to be an infraction.
In the 11th minute, dissatisfied on the edge of the pitch, Tite switched Raphinha for Antony. Without seeing major changes in posture, he waited until the 20’s to trade VinÃcius Júnior for Rodrygo.
Only at 22 minutes did the first big chance come, when Lucas Paquetá shone for the ball, invaded the area and, face to face with the goalkeeper, kicked over the number 1 shirt. At 32 minutes, it was Neymar’s turn to also bump into him, after finishing low .
It seemed that Brazil was more afraid of losing a ball that could generate a counterattack, than maintaining pressure to find their goal. The doldrums dragged on until the end of regular time.
The Brazilian team had not played in extra time in World Cups since 2014, when they drew 1-1 with Chile in normal time for the round of 16, ended 0-0 in extra time and only advanced on penalties, with a 3-2 victory. .
This time, Neymar tried to avoid a bigger drama, opening the scoring in the 15th minute of the first extra time. After scoring with Rodrygo and Lucas Paquetá, he dribbled past the goalkeeper and made it 1-0.
In the second extra time, however, the victory already seemed certain, but in the 11th minute, Petkovic left everything the same and dragged the decision to penalties.
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