Belgium reached the quarterfinals in the Wordcup played in Russia. Will they beat Brazil on Friday and equal their best performance ever on a World Cup? Guess we'll have to wait and see..
You'll find more info about the contest at the bottom of the post!
1986
During the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, the Belgium team was almost unstoppable and they reached the semi-finals. It was their best performance in history, and unfortunately the only time they reached those semi-finals. The memorable team, of which I still know a lot of names, although I was only 9 years old - included Belgian heroes like Jan Ceulemans, Erwin Vandenbergh and of course Jean Marie Pfaff, who was elected to be Goalkeeper of the year.
But it wasn't meant to be. They lost the semi-finals - not against the Argentina team, but against that little genius called Diego Maradona, who was at the top of his game back then.
Although the ended in 4th place, the nation celebrated like they had won. 1986 still brings up a lot of emotions among soccer fans, even now.
QuarterFinals
After the stunning thriller on Monday, in which Belgium only managed to score the winning goal against Japan in the very last minute of the game, once again the quarter-final awaits.
No one had expected that beating the team ranked in 61st place in the FIFA ranking would be such a hard nut to crack.
But Belgium did it, although it was a very close match.
This is only the 2nd time in history our Red Devils manage to go through to the quarterfinals.
Next up
Next up on the list of opponents is Brazil.
Maybe, this could finally be payback time for the match in the 1/8th final on the World Championship in Japan in 2002. Although Belgium played a very good game, Brazil won that match with 2 goals against one. The game might have turned out differently if the ref hadn't decided that the Belgian goal early in the game was invalid.
Up until today, there is still a lot of controversy about the decision.
Top Match
On Friday, it'll be the number 2 (Brazil) and the number 3 (Belgium) of the FIFA world ranking list that will fight for a place in the semi-finals.
According to the Belgian coach Martinez, Belgium has the benefit of being the underdog. they won't have to worry about losing their status as being one of the favorites (which was so during the match against Japan), and our players can simply enjoy the game.
Because we have to face reality: Brazil is one of the best playing teams in this World Cup. If we are not going to enjoy playing against them, we might as well step on board of the first plane and fly home.
Here's what Belgian coach Martinez had to say:
When you play against Brazil you need to understand they are the best team in the World Cup,' Martinez told BBC.
'So we have to have a real understanding of how to play against a team like that - a team with players like Neymar and Coutinho who can decide a game in one second.
'But it's a game that when you are a little boy you dream of - playing against Brazil in a World Cup quarter-final. We can really enjoy it.
Source
Miracles Happen
And who knows... soccer is a game of skills, but also one of luck.
The entire world knows we have a lot of very talented individuals in the team. If they can manage to combine all that individual quality and create a real team, in every sense of the word, they can beat anyone... even Brazil!
To finish this post, let's take a look at the list of top scorers in the tournament so far. We have our own Romulu Lukako in third place with 4 goals, while there isn't a single Brazilian in the list.
You can't blame a girl for hoping for a miracle to happen, right?! ;0)
The Contest
Let me know how you think this game will turn out.
Submit a comment below with your prediction.
Be sure to use this format:
Brazil - Belgium: 0 - 3
The person who predicts the exact outcome of the game will be rewarded with 5SBD
In case there are multiple people who predicted the exact score, the 5SBD prize will be equally divided among all winners.
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