Fellaini and the ghosts of the 7-1 hammering come back to haunt the selecao
Unfashionable midfield grafter does hard work in defeat of Brazil, writes Jim White in Kazan
It has been best at this World Cup to forget all assumption, to invert prejudice, to expect the unexpected. not that that stopped Brazil, the perpetual favourites, swaggering into town propelled by the conviction that the tournament must be theirs. And then they met Marouane Fellaini.
How the thousands packed into the Kazan Arena believed this would be Brazil’s night. Apart from a redshirted corner, every stand was cast in a yellow and green glow. From Rio, Sao Paulo and
– in substantial numbers – from Shanghai, the Brazil followers had come to Tatarstan; wearing yellow feather headdresses and yellow top hats, they had turned this part of Russia into the Maracana.
The problem with all that was that on the pitch they were facing a side not prepared to be cowed by reputation. Brazil may have five stars on their shirts, but this Belgium team have talent aplenty. After all, even if Brazil are ranked No2 in the world, their opponents are third.
This was what a World Cup quarter-final should be, a tussle between the best of teams. And for 90 minutes it throbbed with tension, boiled with excitement. What a game it was, further confirmation – as if it were needed – that we are witnessing something extraordinary here in Russia.
Tite, the impressive Brazil coach, has restored a degree of certainty to a Brazilian side whose morale had been torn to shreds by that 7-1 thrashing by Germany at the 2014 semi-final.
But the horrors of last time round came back to haunt them in the early stages here, there in a figure most observers assumed they were too tactically astute, too sophisticated, too clever to be undermined by: Fellaini.
Roberto Martinez may be polite, decent, challenging Gareth Southgate for the tournament’s good egg trophy. But nice as he is, the Belgium manager knows the value of a spoiler when he sees one. Fellaini had excelled in the victory over Japan in the previous round, coming on at two-goals down to completely change the game’s dynamic, in the process dragging Belgium to the last eight.
This time round, Martinez had not waited for crisis to bring on his supersub. He started with him. And Fellaini signalled his purpose by immediately sniping at Philippe Coutinho. Then he chopped at Neymar’s heels, causing the Brazil No10 to take an early roll.
This was peak Fellaini: in their faces and in their Achilles.
If Brazilian football at its best is meant to be a symphony of balletic fluidity, Fellaini is more a sharp cacophony of elbows and knees. An unobtrusive obstacle at the heart of the Belgian side, he is like Belgium are now unbeaten in 24 games in all competitions under coach Roberto Martinez. They have won 19 and drawn five. the step you did not notice was there and fall over when carrying the shopping home.
He is the piece of Lego lying in wait when you have to get up in the middle of the night and walk across the bedroom floor barefoot.
The plaudits for Belgium’s victory here will all go to the bulldozing power of Romelu Lukaku, the dazzling jinks of Eden Hazard, the beautiful symmetry of Kevin De Bruyne’s passing – and the power of his finishing.
But none of it could happen without Fellaini stopping a Brazil team who showed their capabilities in their stirring late comeback.
There was a moment in the second half which summed him up. Coutinho tried to skip round him. We all know who we would rather pay to watch in action, whose football lifts the soul. And it is not the man with the bubble perm.
Nevertheless, there was something glorious about the way Fellaini flicked the ball off the Brazilian’s toes and came away in possession. This was spoiling at its most aesthetic. He was the grubby bit in the structure, the oil in the Ferrari engine.
Sure, in their stirring attempt to restore the natural order of things, Brazil might have had a penalty. Sure, Thibaut Courtois was obliged to make a number of last-ditch saves. Sure, Renato Augusto’s consolation goal allowed the stadium announcer to unfurl his multi-vowelled rendition of the word “gooooooal”.
But as long Belgium had Fellaini you felt they would hold out. As Brazil joined Germany and Argentina in being evicted from the tournament in Kazan, the graveyard of the champions, Belgium march on.
And we had better get used to the idea that it might be Marouane Fellaini – so often mocked and derided as the epitome of antifootball – who is running round Moscow tomorrow week holding aloft the World Cup trophy.