On any other day, Brazil would've beaten Belgium. At any other World Cup, Brazil would've emerged champions. At Russia 2018, it was just not meant to be. Brazil, for all their attacking quality, the depth in ranks and the well-organised defence, failed to overcome the Belgium challenge and crashed out of the World Cup in the quarter-final. They lost to no ordinary side. They were defeated by a nation's golden generation of players, a team consisting of talismans like Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Vincent Kompany.
The scoreline read 2-1 against their favour, but Brazil could've easily won the game on Friday and we would've been reading scathing pieces on Roberto Martinez's tactical blunders that led to the end of Belgium's World Cup hopes. But Belgium didn't lose and instead we are praising Martinez's bold switch to make the team play in a 4-3-3 formation.