WC 2018: Day 18: A new found calmness ●

Knockouts Day 3

Brazilians behaved like monks and Belgians got exposed.

Mexico 0 - Brazil 2

This Brazil is a completely different team. They are composed, methodical, and introverted. But the most striking feature is the unusual calmness in their game. They controlled the flow of the entire game. The whole game appeared to follow a rhythm of sleepy progress, a sudden burst of energy, and quick settling back to the earlier state of nirvana. But the Selecaos never lost track of their main agenda ever. Neymar continued leveraging his rediscovered form from the last game. But the real star of this game was Wilson. He suddenly got woke in the second half and decided to do the work for everyone else. And he did deliver pretty well. In the end, it seemed the game got over a bit early. I was hoping for them to continue the wonderful legwork for some more time.

Brazil’s next challenge against the mighty Belgians would be their toughest. Last minute luck favoured Belgium against Japan but the game raised pressing questions on their invincibility. Hope Tete and his team are studying them well.