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Rivaldo and Ronaldo sink Belgium
KOBE, Japan (CNN) -- Rivaldo and Ronaldo maintained their goal-a-game records to book Brazil's place in the World Cup quarterfinal with a 2-0 win over battling Belgium. Brazil will play England in Friday's quarterfinal but they were given a scare by hard-working Belgium who rarely allowed them to indulge in their free-flowing football and often had their defence at full-stretch. The underdogs had the enjoyed the better of the second half until the 67th minute when Rivaldo chested down the ball and swivelled to fire into the top corner with a slight deflection off a defender. And as Belgium pressed for an equaliser, Ronaldo sprinted through score the second three minutes before the end. Having led the World Cup goals tally with 11 in their three group games, it took the tournament favourites 19 minutes to carve out their first chance from open play, Ronaldo curling a right-foot shot just over. Three minutes later Ronaldo got to the byline to set up Rivaldo but he failed to keep his overhead volley down. Ronaldo burst through again but Belgium keeper Geert De Vlieger smothered the ball at his feet. Then the striker stabbed a volley just over the bar. But it was far from one way traffic. Wilmots, with four goals in the three group games, was Belgium's most dangerous player and when he let fly from the edge of the area on 52 minutes, Marcos had to stretch to push the ball past his left-hand post. Ten minutes later Wilmots was again denied by the keeper's fingertips after good work by Mbo Mpenza on the right. But Ronaldo had the final say, finishing off a sweeping move with a crisp shot that the keeper touched but could not keep out. In Monday's other game, the U.S. upset Mexico 2-0 to earn a quarterfinal tie against Germany. (Full story) Belgium Geert De Vlieger, Nico Van Kerckhoven, Timmy Simons, Marc Wilmots, Bart Goor, Johan Walem, Gert Verheyen, Jacky Peeters, Daniel Van Buyten, Yves Vanderhaeghe, Mbo Mpenza Brazil Marcos, Cafu, Lucio, Roque Junior, Edmilson, Roberto Carlos, Gilberto Silva, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Juninho Referee Peter Prendergast (Jamaica) |
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