Brazil are always the sensible bet to win the World Cup until they aren’t any more, and that transition can be jarringly sudden. Croatia had their measure. twoht
Brazil are always the sensible bet to win the World Cup until they aren’t any more, and that transition can be jarringly sudden. Croatia had their measure.Things were supposed to be different, this time. Their attacking options were of the absolute highest order. They had two of the very best goalkeepers in the world, one on the bench just in case something happened to their first choice. The swagger had returned.
Hindsight has 20/20 vision, but it didn’t take much remove from the shootout to see the folly behind the order in which Brazil took their penalties. Rodrygo is just 21 years old and was making only his twelfth appearance for the national team. His shot was saved by the extraordinary Dominik Livakovic, whose performance throughout the previous 120 minutes had been the finest goalkeeping performance of the tournament.
What followed was a horror story for a team that had been built up as worthy successors to the team of 1970. Paolo Rossi scored for Italy. Brazil equalised. Rossi re-took the lead. Brazil equalised again. Rossi gave Italy the lead again… and this time, their opponents had no way back. By the closing minutes of the game, they were reduced to pumping high ball after high ball into the Italian penalty area in acts of increasing desperation.
The obvious question to ask at this particular point is that of whether beating European teams in the knockout stages of the World Cup is now becoming a psychological hurdle that Brazil cannot get past. It’s now been twenty years since they last won the tournament, and on each of these five occasions they’ve fallen to the first European team they’ve played once past the group stage.
And that certainly doesn’t suit Brazil’s players at the moments that matter. Rattling four goals in the first half against South Korea amounts to nothing, if you look terrified when walking up to the penalty spot at the start of a shootout in the following game. Brazil also twice let their momentum slip in this World Cup. In losing 1-0 to Cameroon, even if they did primarily play the squad players in this game.
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