Brazil break hearts, not records

As we were leaving the Kazan Arena at around midnight on Friday, the volunteers at an exit point said: goodnight, thank you very much and hope to see you again. We moved along the almost deserted road for awhile but then I took a look back at the metallic megastructure and it gave me the impression of a proverbial mass graveyard, that is at least for the three most decorated football teams. Four-time World Cup champions Germany were buried here by South Korea on June 27, three days later it was two-time champions Argentina who had their last rites read to them by France at the very same ground.

And last night, the Kazan Arena witnessed five-time winners Brazil play out their final act in this World Cup in the form of a 1-2 quarterfinal defeat to Belgium. After we reached our temporary abode, exhausted beyond belief, we mustered up the strength to peer through the window and saw the sky turn reddish as morning approached, a perfect epitome of the dawn of Belgium's red brigade. When we awoke the next day, it was time to reflect on a game that dashed Brazil's hopes of winning a record sixth title.

From a neutral perspective, it was a match anyone would love to watch again and again for its frantic pace, attacks and counterattacks, brilliant goals, individual brilliance and a nerve-wracking last ten minutes where one team gave everything to salvage their fast fading pride while the other bellowed waves of attacks, like an accordion sounding the arrival of their most famous victory.

Brazil were 2-0 down within the first half-hour, complements of a Fernandinho own goal and a rasping right-footer from Kevin De Bruyne. It was an unthinkable scenario seeing as they conceded just once in their last four games.

Although it was also a situation that Brazil have overcome on the biggest stage only once, in 1938 when they came from two goals down to win 4-2 against Sweden, records are meant to be broken, especially when it comes to a team that have won five World Cup titles and were expected to rise above this kind of adversity.

They tried until the very last second but failed. If you ask yourself how well Brazil played after going 2 goals down or even before conceding the first goal in the 13th minute, the answer is that they created a lot of opportunities, with more than a dozen shots on target. But as cruel as it seems, only the 76th minute header from Renato Augusto counted.

On the other hand Belgium had four shots at goal but one of them was decisive. It was a game where Brazil technically scored more but one of them was a colossal blunder. One can easily blame Fernandinho, who also failed to provide the assurance in the midfield that suspended Casemiro had in the previous games. We can also blame a misfiring Coutinho, Paulinho, Neymar or Augusto for not burying chances.

However, we should give credit to the way Thibaut Courtois brilliantly covered the post with his 6 foot 6 inch frame. One can even blame luck, or a couple of rulings that Serbian referee Milorad Mazic refused to refer to the VAR.

But at the end of the day, the biggest consolation for Brazil fans in that heart-wrenching defeat is that the famous South American side tried to play the way they are revered for across the world. This was made evident after the game as the Selecao's supporters cursed their luck before drifting away from the venue silently. Tite's post-match briefing was also similarly quiet and seemed more like a reflection on what could have happened and what actually went wrong.

Russia provided an ideal platform for Brazil's redemption of their disappointment at home four years ago, when they were annihilated 7-1 by Germany in an extraordinary semifinal. This time, their ambitions ended at the quarterfinals. While it is true that anything other than winning the title constitutes a failure for Brazil, sometimes you have to face the harsh reality that this is a game of goals and not of how well you played.

I guess you could say that Brazil paid the price for having a striker who failed to find the net a single time in five games.