Croatia’s biggest win in the World Cup has left the Brazil national team in disarray. The Selecao coach Tite yesterday confirmed that he was stepping down, while Neymar JNR mentioned he had not yet decided whether he would continue playing for his country.
The Brazilians, who were the favourites with their star-studded team, were knocked out of the tournament 4-2 on penalties on Friday by Croatia.
The defeat denied the world what would have been one of the World Cup’s most exciting games.
The entire football universe was expecting a humdinger Brazil v Argentina semifinal, but the Croatians had other ideas, sending shock waves across the world after they fought until the last
minute and matched the Brazilians pound for pound.
But maybe the Brazil defeat opens the opportunity window for Lionel Messi to finally win the Fifa World Cup trophy. Without it, Messi may not claim the podium in the ranking of the world’s greatest ever footballers.
It is now or never for him as he’s probably playing in his last World Cup, given his age.
Messi and his countrymen will face Croatia on Tuesday after they dumped the Netherlands out of the tournament also on Friday night.
To his advantage, Messi has guided La Albiceleste to the last four after an incredible assist to Nahuel Molina and added his name to the scoresheet from the spot-kick against the Dutch, who fought back from two goals down to make it 2-2 to force the match into penalties that Argentina won 4-3.
Messi’s task will be more difficult with Croatia blocking their path to the final.
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