Belgium are probably cursing right now that they are in the ‘tough’ half of the World Cup draw after winning Group G.
They came from 2-0 down to beat Japan in an absolute thriller on Monday – the first team to do so in a knockout game since 1970 – but their reward for that is facing the tournament favourites and five-time champions Brazil.
Had they lost to England in their final group game, no previous winner would have stood between them and the final.
Belgium – now unbeaten in 23 games – are one of only two teams in Russia to win all four games and have perhaps found the killer edge that had been questioned after coming back from the brink of going home to reach the quarter-finals.
“When we went 2-0 down [against Japan] there was the psychological feeling of ‘OK, we have nothing to lose’, which freed us up,” said Red Devils manager Roberto Martinez.
“That’s like how it will be against Brazil, except we can feel like that from the first second.”
Many of the superstars left in the tournament should feature in this game – Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Paris St-Germain all supply at least one player to both squads.
Neymar has been one of the most memorable players in the competition – although not always for the right reasons. He has scored twice in Russia but his reaction to tackles has earned him much ridicule.
Another important thing to remember is that for all the chat about Brazil’s attacking stars, they have only conceded one goal in their past nine games and have only allowed five shots on target against them in the tournament so far.