Brazil vs Belgium - 2002 World Cup

Home: World Cup 2002: Korea-Japan Finals: Knockout Stage: Match Report

Monday, June 17th

England Study The Three Rs

Svengali and the England team were in the stands to study the three Rs - Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

Within 40 seconds though, the first chance fell to Belgium; Marcos tipping Mbo Mpenza's shot away for a corner.

Belgium weren't giving the four times World Champions the space they needed and started very positively.

With fifteen minutes gone, it looked like Brazil definitely had a fight on their hands; even Roberto Carlos had to give more than 100% and Ronaldinho was working in defence - to head the ball back to his goalkeeper.

But take your eye off the Brazilian forwards for a second and they can tear you apart, as Ronaldo proved by crossing into Rivaldo - who might have scored if he didn't try to perform the spectacular.

A minute later and Marc Wilmots tried to emulate Edm�lson's classic goal against Costa Rica.

Whatever the result in this game, the watching England team would be pleased that both sides were pushing the other to their physical limits.

A 35th minute header, by Wilmots, was dubiously disallowed and Brazil could breathe again.

Then two minutes later, Ronaldo dashed through Jacky Peeters and Daniel Van Buyten, only to be thwarted by Geert De Vlieger's face.

The Belgian goalkeeper soon recovered, although the reserve keeper continued with his warm-up routine.

Five minutes before the break, Ronaldinho sent Rivaldo down the left and Ronaldo's volley, with the outside of his outstretched foot, wasn't far over.

Half-time: Brazil 0 - Belgium 0

Seven minutes after the re-start, Marc Wilmots almost caught Marcos unsighted; when the Belgian turned and shot low, through the Brazilian defence.

Belgium continued to apply the pressure as Mpenza almost slipped in at the far post; only brave goalkeeping, from Marcos, kept the ball out.

On the next attack, Mpenza looked back as he chased the ball down the right, towards the corner-flag, and noticed his captain on the edge of the area.... Marcos did well again; to keep out the rising shot from Marc Wilmots.

1:0
Rivaldo finally opened the scoring for Brazil, in the 67th minute, when he took Ronaldinho's right wing chip on his chest..... flicked the ball on the turn and half-volleyed past Geert De Vlieger.

Only when Belgium went a goal down did Wesley Sonck come on (for Jacky Peeters).... and he almost scored a few minutes later.

Brazil tried to slow the pace down in the last ten minutes but Belgium continued to fight on bravely and gave Brazil the space to seal the game.

2:0
Ronaldo's fifth goal of the tournament, three minutes from the end, ended any hopes Belgium had of making it into extra-time.

If anything, Belgium and Turkey have proved that Brazil can be flustered;. and with a little bit of luck, even beaten.

That should please England - when they meet the France 98 finalists, in the quarter-final.

Final Score:
Brazil 2 - Belgium 0

Man of the Match:
Marc Wilmots - Unfortunate to have his goal disallowed and came close to scoring again. Apart from that, he marshaled his team marvelously and encouraged them to take the game to Brazil for well over an hour.

Yellow Cards:
Yves Vanderhaeghe (24 mins)
Roberto Carlos (28 mins)

The Teams

Brazil:
1 Marcos; 2 Cafu, 5 Edm�lson, 3 L�cio, 6 Roberto Carlos, 4 Roque Junior; 8 Gilberto Silva, 19 Juninho Paulista (17 Denilson - 57 mins), 10 Rivaldo, 11 Ronaldinho (15 Kl�berson - 81 mins); 9 Ronaldo.

Belgium:
1 Geert De Vlieger; 15 Jacky Peeters (9 Wesley Sonck - 73 mins), 16 Daniel Van Buyten, 5 Nico Van Kerckhoven; 8 Bart Goor, 6 Timmy Simons, 18 Yves Vanderhaeghe, 11 Gert Verheyen, 10 Johan Walem; 22 Mbo Mpenza, 7 Marc Wilmots.

Referee: Peter Prendergast