Brazil leave the World Cup after another debacle

DOHA : Brazil chalked up another disappointing World Cup performance as they exited the tournament in a stunning quarter-final defeat on penalties at the hands of Croatia.

It is a loss that will linger as they let victory slip through their fingers shortly before the final whistle.

Brazil were winning 1-0 on Friday after Neymar scored a brilliant goal in the first-half of extra time but let their guard down and allowed Croatia to score an equaliser from a counter-attack with three minutes remaining.

It was their second consecutive loss in a World Cup quarter-final, their fourth in the last five tournaments at the same stage. The occasion they made it to the semi-final on home soil in 2014 ended in them being beaten 7-1 by Germany.

It is nothing short of a disaster for a team who arrived in Qatar as favourites, filled by a new generation of talent up front alongside talisman Neymar.

What was supposed to be redemption for the Paris St Germain forward, however, was instead transformed into his third World Cup nightmare.

After being left out by coach Dunga in 2010 for being too young, four years later he sustained a cracked vertebrae in Brazil's quarter-final victory over Colombia and watched from his hospital bed as his team mates suffered that semi-final thrashing by Germany.

At Russia 2018, injuries again hampered his World Cup dream. Earlier in the year, Neymar had suffered a sprained right ankle that affected a metatarsal in his foot, and he was never at 100 per cent during the tournament, playing through pain and out of form when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Belgium.

He suffered a similar injury in Brazil's opener in Qatar, ruling him out of the next two games, but managed to recover in time for the last 16