Brazil 1-2 Belgium: World Cup highlights and recap

Belgium beat Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup quarterfinals on Friday, July 6. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Belgium beat favorites Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup quarterfinal in Kazan on Friday to book a semifinal matchup with France on Tuesday.

Belgium dominated Brazil in the first half with a new-look formation. Roberto Martinez switched to a back four, with Jan Vertonghen on the left and Thomas Meunier on the right. Further forward, Romelu Lukaku was lining up in a right wing/forward position, trying to exploit the space left by Marcelo.

After Fernandinho, replacing the suspended Casemiro in holding midfield for Brazil, turned a corner into his own net early on, leading Tite’s side to commit numbers forward in search of an equalizer, Belgium picked their opponents apart on the break, with Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard all heavily involved.

The second goal came from one such counter-attack, Lukaku driving through midfield, past Fernandinho, before laying the ball off for De Bruyne. The Manchester City star, afforded a yard of space by Meunier’s run on the right wing, drilled a superb shot past Allison into the bottom right corner.

It was hard to see a way back into the game for Brazil given how dangerous Belgium were on the counter, but they improved significantly in the second half. Part of that was down to Martinez’s side dropping off, but Miranda also did a much better job shutting down Lukaku, limiting his side’s threat on the counter.

They could easily have had a penalty in the 56th minute — Vincent Kompany appeared to foul club teammate Gabriel Jesus, but after a brief VAR review, the referee decided not to watch a replay — but had to wait until 75 minutes had passed before getting a goal back, Renato Augusto heading in a lovely chipped cross from Philippe Coutinho.

Brazil had their chances late on — Coutinho blazed over in good position, while Neymar had a curling effort tipped over by Thibaut Courtois — but Belgium’s defense, their supposed weakness under Martinez, held firm to send the country through to their first World Cup semifinal since Mexico 1986.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Highlights

https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1015307169988661248

Belgium will play France in the semifinals on Tuesday, July 10.