BELGIUM TACTICALLY EDGES OVER BRASIL TO MAKE A DATE WITH FRANCE AT THE FIFA2018 WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL7/7/2018 BY:Phodiso Gaebepe A huge disappointment for the Brazilian people after a shock defeat by Belgium. This was a very tight fixture for both teams, the game could go either way as both teams are decorated with seasoned players . The Brazilian squad is full of cream in the likes of Neymar, Coutinho, Willian, u know just the whole team is a team of stars. On the other hand Belgium also has Hazard, Lukaku, Debryune , Kompany just to name a few. Like i said the game was expected to be a tough encounter for both teams. We saw on the night Belgium raising their hand, showing to be more prepared and more hungry than Brazil.
In the opening minutes of the game Brazil began chasing down Belgium to get an early goal to settle their nerves but did not utilize the half chances they got. Belgium defence proved to be tighter than they thought. Belgium also had their fair share of attacks. The game was was like a swing, going back and forth. Both teams asking each other some questions, testing each others defence. Against the run of play Belgium for an early goal they wanted from a Fenandinho own goal to unsettle the Brazillians. After the goal we saw a slight change in play. Belgium now freely attacked Brazil, they put more pressure on them. Brazil was now on the backfoot and looked so confused . That did not last as the Samba boys came back to the game and took control. Mind you Brazil was without their regular starter in midfield, Casemiro. This allowed Debryune to manage to play and dominate the midfield. We know that Casemiro is one player who is tough, his presence could come in handy for the Samba boys as he would have destabilized Debryune. He was able to dominate the midfield as he was not taken care of. Brazil continued pressing Belgium, they went all out for the equalizer, but Belgium went back to defend. The whole team was behind the ball, there was no space in the box for samba boys to penetrate. All their shots were blocked. This allowed Belgium to get another counter attack that was started by Lukaka, got the ball that was cleared from the Brazilian attack on their half. Went with speed and the Brazilian defence retaliated back to their post outran Paulinho who tried to make a tackle and missed, he went on and saw Debryune with a pass he went into the box and scored a a good shot to put Belgium 2-0 up. After break we saw some shocking substitutions. Willian was taken out and Firmino in. Instead of fixing the midfield but adding in Casemiro and taking out Fenandinho. Brazil continued pressing. They put pressure on Belgium as they played in their half most of the time. The Brazilian had more time on the ball. All Belgium did was blocking shots from the Brazilians, we saw some controversial decisions from the official where Kompany went studs out in Gabriel Jesus inside the box but did not give a penalty even after the video review. (VAR ). Neymar tried his best to take them in but they were too compact for him. Douglas Costa came in with some energy on the wing. Be made a few dangerous attacks but was not allowed any space in the box. He was able to dribble and get into the box. His only problem was his final decision in the box. Instead of going all the way he makes a pass outside the box or comes out of the box to look for his teammates with the ball. Where he was supposed to hold on to the ball to look for a foul. However Brazil was able to get a consolation goal from Agusto who also came in as a substitute for Paulinho. Belgium had now stopped playing and only defending attacks from Brazil. The Brazilians tried their best to get an equalizer to take the game to extra time, but luck was not on their side. The game ended 2-1 in favour of Belgium and this meant that Brazil is out of the tournament and Belgium goes through to the semi-finals. |