Five-time FIFA World Cup winners Brazil suffered a shocking defeat against Croatia on Friday night (December 9). The loss against the 2018 FIFA World Cup losing finalists in the first quarterfinal match of the ongoing edition of the FIFA World Cup knocked Brazil out of the competition. The world’s No. 1 team was favourites to win the title this year in Qatar, but now, after a shock defeat, they are heading home.
Brazil has not won the title since bagging their fifth trophy 20 years ago during the 2002 edition. The defeat against Croatia was a surprise for everyone as because nobody expected this result. The South Americans were well on course of securing a place in the semifinals after breaking the deadlock in the dying minute of first half of additional extra time. But conceded one in the 117th minute and then went on to lose the fixture on penalties.
In the penalty shootout, all four Croatian players converted the spot kick, whereas for the Selecao, Real Madrid’s attacker Rodrygo, who stepped up for the first kick, and defender Marquinhos, who came in fourth, missed the target.
As soon as Marquinhos’s effort hit the crossbar, the Brazilian players and their thousands of supporters present at the Education City Stadium went into shock as they couldn’t believe what just happened.
Several videos of the likes of Neymar, Rodrygo, and other Brazilian players are going viral on the internet in which they can be seen having tears in their eyes.
For Neymar, it was the third straight World Cup in which he failed to help Brazil go all the way and seal the title. On Friday, the 30-year-old became Selecao’s joint-leading goal scorer when he scored the opening goal, but he surprisingly did not take the penalty in the shootout. According to the team’s coach, Tite, he was reserved to take the fifth spot kick, but the chance for it never came, as before that only Croatia sealed the game.
