World Cup 2018, Brazil vs Belgium: Combined XI
When Nacer Chadli scored a stoppage-time winner against Japan in the round of 16, the whole world got excited owing to the fact that we now have a mouthwatering quarter-final clash between Belgium and Brazil.
On paper, probably two of the most star-studded lineups of this world cup, Brazil vs Belgium is one of the biggest matches of the last eight stage.
Brazil started out their tournament with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland in Rostov. They then went on to beat Costa Rica with two goals late in stoppage time before dumping Serbia out of the tournament with a 2-0 victory.
Their next opponents were the North American side Mexico who defeated Germany in their opening fixture.
Though the match was expected to be a hard one to guess it wasn’t. The Brazilians dominated their North American counterparts with Neymar opening the scoring before Roberto Firmino sealed it for Brazil in the 88th minute. As things stand Brazil is the favourites for FIFA World Cup 2018.
While Belgium had a ball in the group stage winning all matches comprehensively. Romelu Lukakau has provided the goals with four to his name. After beating the likes of Panama, Tunisia and England, Belgium entered the round of 16 as group G winners.
Japan was expected to be tricky opponents but their two-goal lead at the 65-minute mark shocked the world. Belgium had to dig deep as they came back from 0-2 to win 3-2 courtesy of goals from Jan Vertonghen, Marouane Fellaini and a Nacer Chadli stoppage-time goal.
As the most awaited round of 16 clash approaches, let us see what the combined teams might look like with a 4-3-3 formation.
Goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois pips Alisson Becker for the No. 1 position. Though the Brazilian has been great so far, keeping Courtois out of the side was always going to be hard.
The Chelsea stopper, despite his horrendous showing against Japan, has been one of the star performers for Belgium.
Often considered as one of the best goalkeepers in the world Courtois has grabbed 62 caps at just 26 years of age.
If he continues his great run he might end up being Belgium's most capped players of all time.