Down. Goes. Brazil.
The 2022 World Cup favourites have crashed out of the tournament on penalties vs. Croatia in the quarterfinals Friday.
After trading chances in regulation, the teams headed to extra time knotted up at zeroes. It was there that Neymar scored his 77th international goal to tie Pele for the most in Brazil’s international team history.
It briefly appeared as though that marker would stand as the game winner, however after Croatia’s all-world mid field turned back multiple Brazilian attacks, Bruno Petkovic tied things up with 4 minutes to play with a deflected shot from the edge of the box.
With extra time settling nothing, the teams were off to a shootout where things went from bad to worse for the number 1 ranked team in the world.
The usually sure footed Rodrygo missed Brazil’s opening kick to put them behind the 8 ball immediately. After converting both of their next two strikes, Marquinhos then missed the team’s 4th kick to seal their fate.
Croatia meanwhile converted all 4 of their attempts and will now move on to face the winner of Argentina vs. the Netherlands in the semi-finals.
The loss marks the 2nd consecutive quarter final exit for Brazil at the World Cup.
Photo: Кирилл Венедиктов. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.