When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up fornow for the biggest moments from morning TV World Cup 2018 fans saw Belgium scoop a 2-1 victory against Brazil in Russia tonight. And during the match, the wife of Brazil’s goalkeeper, Natalia, was pictured supporting her spouse from the stands. The star, who wed Alisson back in 2015, cuddled their daughter during the match. Showing her support for the 25-year-old and their native country, Natalie sported a green football shirt, which featured the Brazil football emblem. Meanwhile, the youngster donned a yellow and green child-sized top for the match.<doc-sep>(AP Photo) Key Highlights Belgium ended Brazil's dream of a sixth World Cup title Belgium beat the South Americans 2-1 in a dramatic, enthralling end-to-end quarter-final Belgium earned a semi-final tie against France SCHEDULE | VIDEOS FT - Belgium beat Brazil to set up semi-final clash with France Belgium ended Brazil's dream of a sixth World Cup title when they beat the South Americans 2-1 in a dramatic, enthralling end-to-end quarter-final to earn a semi-final tie against France. 90+5' - Kevin de Bruyne won a corner for Belgium 90+4' - Firmino headed it well over the Belgium crossbar 90+4' - SAVE! Thibaut Courtois palmed it over to deny Neymar. Corner for Brazil 90+2' - Philippe Coutinho's shot from the edge of Belgium box was blocked by Fellaini 90+1' - VAR used again to check a penalty shout from Neymar. The decision is again - NO 90' - Five minutes added as stoppage time 90' - Yellow Card! Brazil's Fagner booked 89' - Marcelo's cross in into the Belgium area was headed out by Kompany 86' - Substitution! Romelu Lukaku is replaced by Tielemans 85' - Yellow Card! Brazil's Fernandinho booked for a foul on Eden Hazard 84' - MISSED! Philippe Coutinho shot it wide after getting a perfect pass from Neymar from the left 82' - Substitution! Change for Belgium: Nacer Chadli is replaced by Thomas Vermaelen 80' - Renato Augusto shot it just wide from the edge of Belgium area 79' - Corner for Brazil. Cleared out by Belgium 78' - Roberto Firmino shot it over the Belgium crossbar from close range 76' - GOAL! Renato Augusto made it 1-2 for Brazil Substitute Augusto connected the cross from Philippe Coutinho and headed the ball into the net, beating Thibaut Courtois. Brazil now alive and kicking 75' - SAVE! Thibaut Courtois made another save to deny Douglas Costa 73' - Substitution! Third change for Brazil: Paulinho is replaced by Renato Augusto 72' - Another Philippe Coutinho long ranger went close to Thibaut Courtois, who collected it comfortably 71' - Yellow Card! Thomas Meunier booked for a foul on Neymar. He will miss the next match, if they progress further 69' - Brazil gave away possession easily again in the Belgium final third 67' - Free-kick for Belgium near the half line for a foul on Axel Witsel 63' - SAVE! Thibaut Courtois came up with another brilliant diving save for Belgium. He palmed the ball away to safety and denied Douglas Costa the chance to pass it to Philippe Coutinho 62' - MISSED! Eden Hazard shot it just wide of Brazil goal. What a through pass from Kevin de Bruyne from the middle of the pitch 60' - Marcelo had a good game so far. Most of the Brazil attack in the second half coming from him in the left flank 58' - Substitution! Gabriel Jesus is replaced by Douglas Costa for Brazil 56' - VAR taken to check penalty for Brazil. Vincent Kompany with the challenge on Gabriel Jesus inside the Belgium box. The decision is out - NO PENALTY. 55' - Corner for Brazil. Taken a short one and nothing came off it. 53' - Neymar fell inside the Belgium box and shout for a penalty. The ref immediately said no. 51' - MISSED! Roberto Firmino had a faintest of touch in front of Belgium goal, but ball went wide. Marcelo with the brilliant cross in from the left 49' - Vincent Kompany won the ball from Neymar in the Belgium area and passed it diagonally to Romelu Lukaku. The striker charged into the Brazil box but failed to create clear chacne to shoot 47' - Yellow Card! Belgium defender Toby Alderweireld booked for a foul on Paulinho. First card of the night 46' - Free-kick for Belgium for a foul on Eden Hazard on the left flank Second half underway... Halftime change for Brazil: Willian is replaced by Roberto Firmino Players are coming out for the second half. HT - Belgium lead Brazil 2-0 at the halftime break Belgium stunned five-time World Cup winners Brazil as they took a 2-0 halftime lead in their quarter-final with an own goal by Fernandinho and a superb finish by Kevin de Bruyne. Brazil went behind when Fernandinho put the ball into his own net from a corner in the 13th minute. The South Americans were open at the back and Belgium took advantage when Romelu Lukaku found De Bruyne who fired home the second in the 31st. 45+1' - Neymar caught offside in the Belgium half 45' - One minute added as stoppage time 45' - Brazil move into the Belgium area cleared out easily again 42' - Nacer Chadli with the delivery, but the flick from Vincent Kompany went straight to Alisson at near post 41' - SAVE! Alisson palmed it over to deny another pinpoint shot from De Bruyne. Corner for Belgium 40' - Free-kick for Belgium from a dangerous position. Paulinho brought down Kevin de Bruyne just outside the Brazil box 38' - Willian took the corner kick for Brazil, but it was headed out easily by Belgium 37' - SAVE! Thibaut Courtois came up with another diving save, this time to deny the long ranger from Philippe Coutinho 37' - Corner for Brazil. Thibaut Courtois palmed it away to to deny the deflected shot from Marcelo 31' - GOAL! Kevin De Bruyne doubled the Belgium lead WHAT A GOAL! On the counter, De Bruyne got space on the edge of Brazil box and he shot it low to the right of Alisson. No chance for Brazil goalkeeper. A world-class goal from the world-class player. Romelu Lukaku with the assist. 31' - Neymar took the duty to deliver from the corner-kick and Marouane Fellaini headed it out easily, which started the counter attack from Belgium 30' - Willian with the delivery from the set piece. Belgium blocked out but the Neymar long ranger got deflected for a Brazil corner 29' - Free-kick for Brazil near the Belgium corner. 26' - SAVE! It took some effort from Thibaut Courtois to save the long ranger from Marcelo. Good effort<doc-sep>Alisson Becker. Photo: Lukasz Laskowski/PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images Remember just a few weeks ago, back when everyone was horny for Morocco’s gorgeous World Cup coach Hervé Renard? Well, no disrespect to Renard, but we all moved on to a new hot obsession: Alisson Becker, Brazil’s Hemsworth-looking World Cup goalkeeper. Becker is a 25-year-old Brazilian goalie who usually plays for the Italian club Roma. During the 2018 World Cup, he is playing for his native country’s national team, since that is how the World Cup works. But more importantly than any of those details that we found on his Wikipedia page, Becker immediately went viral earlier in the week for his good, very good, excellent, top-notch, beautiful looks. Many people noticed his very obvious Hemsworth-ness: is it just me or does alisson becker look kinda like a long lost hemsworth brother pic.twitter.com/u8EUAS6AHO — Reece Walter (@reece4thesky) July 2, 2018 @Alissonbecker is the long lost 3rd Hemsworth brother. Don’t fight me on this one. pic.twitter.com/mNvF7zb8jA — Neela 🌻 (@hyggegrl) July 3, 2018 Alisson Becker // Chris Hemsworth pic.twitter.com/ks4ThCSDzm — izzy (@carxlvitoria) July 2, 2018 alisson becker, bramkarz brazylii = zaginiony brat hemsworth pic.twitter.com/w2D4IFduAP — karo ☕ | supports finns (@braverebelxx_) July 3, 2018 Wait, is Thor playing goalkeeper for Brazil? Is that legal ? pic.twitter.com/csB1ELncjI — Richard Griggs (@LilRichie23) July 2, 2018 And others took a moment to simply appreciate his beauty: oohhhh alisson becker pic.twitter.com/bramU6B4Or — tori coutinho stan (@cmiIanbhd) July 2, 2018 🇧🇷 Alisson Becker appreciation tweet 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/DuYYMgIgsw — Diego (@EsseDiegoLuiz) July 2, 2018 Alisson Becker let me talk to you pic.twitter.com/kJmEcAT4Pm — romana 🔥 (@rhaegaal) July 2, 2018 Meanwhile, we spent some time … admiring … pictures of Becker on Getty. Alisson Becker. Photo: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images Alisson Becker. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images Alisson Becker. Photo: Buda Mendes/Getty Images And then we also stalked his Instagram to find even more attractive pictures of him. That’s when we found a bunch of pics of him with his baby and we said a collective “Awww” so loudly and powerfully that an earthquake was detected, just like when Mexican World Cup fans celebrated too enthusiastically recently. But after Brazil’s ouster from the World Cup on Friday – they lost 2-1 to Belgium – many people rushed to social media to comfort Becker and let him know how much they will miss him. Alisson Becker aquí estoy Yo para Consolarte. VEÑ A MIIIII!, 🍑🍆😏🙈 pic.twitter.com/j6iK8VRuyn — Daniel El Travieso (@DaniiellCano) July 6, 2018 Will miss the other Hemsworth brother in the World Cup though—Alisson Becker. — Mika (@swikey) July 6, 2018 Sigh, if only there were two of him! This post was updated to reflect Brazil’s loss to Belgium.<doc-sep>Great World Cup games can be the epic comeback tale and others, like this one, are about how one team stands firm in the gale of a relentless attacking force, although quite how Belgium hung on to reach the semi-finals and send Brazil home they may never know. It was another Russia 2018 classic, featuring a Belgium side who plundered two goals against their famous opposition twice in the first 32 minutes after which the men in the yellow shirts would spend the next hour in thrilling perpetual chase. Led by their little general Philippe Coutinho, and perhaps with a little longer at their disposal, it would have been Brazil in the semi-final against France in St Petersburg on Tuesday. But instead the last South American side are out, beaten by the shrewdness of Kevin De Bruyne on the counter-attack and Marouane Fellaini and his fellow midfield sentry Axel Witsel, the two unmistakeable guardogs of this Belgium team. This was the golden generation of Belgium against a country where every generation is golden, and the great attacking talent of De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku prevailed. Not as the dominant team in possession because Brazil were that, and not in terms of chances created in which the Brazilians also led, but it was in exploiting their opportunities in which Belgium prevailed. Afterwards Roberto Martinez pointed out that to beat Brazil, it is not enough to put your talent up against theirs and hope to win - even with the talent in his side. Rather, you have to have a plan.<doc-sep>
What has happened since 2002, though, suggests this is no longer the advantage it once was. The playing field has been leveled: Brazil is no longer pre-eminent in the way it once was, possessed of enough raw brilliance to carry it through. The explanation for that does not lie in Brazil’s shortcomings, but in someone else’s strengths. It is not a coincidence that all four of this year’s World Cup semifinalists, whatever happens in the second set of quarterfinals, are from Europe. This is, increasingly, a European competition. All four of the most recent world champions have been European. Since 1990, what might be broadly termed soccer’s modern era, there have been eight World Cups. Brazil has won two. Europe will have picked up the rest. At least one manager here has confided privately that Europe’s power — in terms of finance, influence, and physicality — has become almost impossible to compete with, certainly for Africa, Asia and North America, and increasingly for South America, the game’s other traditional stronghold. The major nations of the Old World have industrialized youth development so effectively that France, Germany and Spain can now rival Brazil and Argentina as a source of players. Its smaller countries have such easy access to best practices that their size is no longer an issue. Their players and coaches can be exported easily to the best leagues in the world. The latest developments in coaching, sports science, nutrition and the rest can be imported rapidly. It is that process that allowed Iceland to draw with Argentina, and be a little disappointed it did not win. It is that process that has left Belgium in the World Cup semifinals, and Croatia and Sweden with hopes of joining them. And it is that process that has seen Brazil come and go from four World Cups, all without success. Each one, each failing, simply adds to the pressure that awaits the next team to try to end the wait, to try to overcome all of the advantages that Europe can call on. The players in those yellow jerseys know as well as anyone that Brazil has won five World Cups. They know more than everyone that they have not contributed to any of them. Increasingly, those victories are not a psychological barrier that lies broken at their feet, but one that towers above them, standing in their way, casting them into shadow. — Here’s how Belgium eliminated Brazil (by Andrew Das): 90’ + 5: Time Is Short Final moments here … Is Brazil going out? 90’ + 4: Neymar Shoots, Courtois Blocks! Oh Courtoiiiissssssssss .....He dives to palm a Neymar curler over the bar. Did he just save the day?!?! ?