Kevin De Bruyne of Belgium celebrates after the Fifa World Cup 2018 quarter final soccer match between Brazil and Belgium in Kazan on Friday.
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The Belgians had made the quarterfinals.
Belgium’s Golden Generation finally seems to be clicking into gear.
Some people live and die by them, certain that they hold the key to all knowledge, while others deride them as mostly meaningless without context and not applicable or representative of the game itself.
Up next for Belgium in the last four is Didier Deschamps’ France, and De Bruyne is ready to grasp a rare opportunity for his country. Still, Belgium weren’t home and dry, and Courtois had to make a brilliant diving save from a curling effort from Neymar. Martinez went with an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation, signaling his side’s intention to stand toe-to-toe with Neymar and Co. from the start.
“I said right at the beginning they would cause problems for anyone”, Schmeichel said.
“It´s a dream match for our players”, Martinez told Belgian press after sealing qualification for the last eight with a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Japan in the first phase of the knockout rounds.
‘If you can beat Brazil, you do not have to fear anyone, ‘ Chadli was quoted at a press conference that was published on Belgium’s Twitter account. I feel we are as ready as we can be. They have the two-goal advantage and that’s helping them at the moment.
“The squad they have, the players they have available it’s no surprise, no one can be surprised about this”.
Something seemed to have changed, or so Kompany argued.
Unfortunately for Brazilian fans, the 2018 World Cup will be remembered largely for a controversial penalty decision that went Belgium’s way, and for Brazil’s remarkable wastefulness in the closing stages of the game. I know him very well and he can be very risky.
Still, doubt remained. Kompany said there was no point comparing the two sides one-on-one, because by his own admittance, “We have no chance”.
Fernandinho – Surprised? Casemiro is out and that means the Manchester City player will get a chance to start the game but it won’t be easy for him to stop a team like Belgium.
There’s not much to choose between the World Cup favourites and the tournament’s top scorers – but one of them will soon be going home. Brazil had it really hard with our counter-attacks.
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Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard were all magical in the 2-1 win over Brazil, upstaging their South American counterparts.
