Antony sobbing after Brazil was eliminated from the World Cup
After losing to Croatia on penalties in the World Cup quarterfinals on Friday, Manchester United star Antony promised Brazilian fans that he and his teammates will bounce back stronger.
Brazilians were widely regarded as favorites to defeat the European squad in Al Rayyan after they easily defeated South Korea in the Round of 16 of the tournament. However, a goalkeeper in fine form stopped the roving Samba Boys.
As Tite’s staff attempted to tighten the screws, Dominik Livakovic produced a number of excellent stops. Before the hour mark, Antony was substituted for Raphinha by Brazil, but the South Americans had to wait until extra time before Neymar broke through the Croatia defense to give them the lead.
Get Instantly Update By: Joining Our Whatapps and Telegram Channel
With only three minutes left in extra time, Bruno Petkovic sunk the ball into the net to force a penalty shootout, dealing Brazil a suckerpunch. After Rodrygo was denied earlier in the shootout, Marquinhos would ultimately be the unfortunate player to miss the crucial penalty that eliminated Antony. He struck the post from a distance of 12 yards.
After the game, Antony posted a moving message to his Instagram fans. This is not how I would like to begin this message, he wrote. But before anything else, I must express my gratitude to everyone who shared in this dream with me.
“It took years, months, weeks, days, and more days to ponder about bringing this championship back to the football-loving nation. And we made every effort… Each sweat drop, each tackle, each energy, each dribble, each goal… We succeeded.
“Today, the grief of an elimination and a broken dream persist. The assurance that we will return even more unified, stronger, and driven by the same desire to make everyone who supports us happy.
“The same Antony who decorated the streets of Osasco dreaming of a World Cup victory is the same Antony who departs Qatar today. Though it isn’t right now, we’ll be back.
“Hexa remains our main objective. We have the right to mourn today because we are human, but tomorrow we shall begin to reconstruct our past.
In the near future, Antony will return to Old Trafford together with his United teammates Casemiro and Fred in preparation for the start of the holiday season’s competitive domestic matches.