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#3 Belgium 2-1 Brazil
Brazil were touted as the favorites to win the cup before they met Belgium in Kazan. They missed Casemiro owing to a booking and his absence proved to be decisive. Fernandinho, Casemiro’s replacement, was guilty of scoring an own goal from a Belgian corner.
Belgium started attacking more after the first goal and their forward trio of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard made life difficult for the Brazilian defenders. Brazil conceded a second when Lukaku won the ball in the midfield and marauded his way through the Brazilian defence before providing the final pass to De Bruyne, who finished brilliantly.
Brazil were decidedly the better team in the second half and attacked a lot through the right wing as Douglas Costa, Willian’s replacement, had a tremendous game. However, the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Neymar could not find the elusive goal and Tite had to introduce Roberto Firmino and Renato Augusto in the attack. Augusto did score with a header in the 79th minute but it was not enough to rescue his team. Belgium celebrated the biggest victory in their footballing history as the Brazilian players looked crestfallen after the match.
