FIFA World Cup 2014: Ochoa stops Brazil; Belgium prove their worth

Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa’s outstanding saves stopped the host nation Brazil to find the net, as the well anticipated match of Tuesday ended in stalemate.

Zee Media Bureau/Chaitan Papnai

New Delhi: Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa’s outstanding saves stopped the host nation Brazil to find the back of the net, as the well anticipated match of Tuesday ended in stalemate. The Selecao created a few chances during the match played at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza, but the Mexican goalie maintained a clean sheet during the entire game with the help of his superb reflexes. Though the match lived up to its expectations as Mexican strikes too gave some tough time to Brazilian defenders, both the teams failed to score any goal. PIC Galleries Football World Cup 2014: Belgium vs Algeria, Match 15 » Football World Cup 2014: Brazil vs Mexico, Match 16 » Football World Cup 2014: Russia vs Korea Republic, Match 17 » Match Reports: World Cup 2014: Belgium vs Algeria, Match 15» World Cup 2014: Brazil vs Mexico, Match 16» Football World Cup 2014: Russia vs Korea Republic, Match 17» The star striker of Brazil, Neymar got two good opportunities to find the net but on both the occasions point blank saves by man-of-the-match Ochoa gave no chance to the boisterous spectators to celebrate. From Mexico, Jose Vazquez, Hector Herrera, Andres Guardado and Raul Jimenez also tried their best to find the net but Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar also proved his worth. However in the first match of the day, the dark horses of the tournament Belgium came from behind to seal their first game against Algeria 2-1. Interestingly, Algeria scored the first goal of the match with the help of a penalty in the 25th minute of the game, when Sofiane Feghouli converted it by striking the ball low and a little right of centre, to beat Thibaut Courtois, who dived the wrong way. But even after trailing by 0-1 in the first half, the richly talented Belgium side made a superb comeback in the second half by bracing two goals within the gap of ten minutes. Fascinatingly, both the goals came by the super subs -- Marouane Fellaini and Dries Mertens. In the 70th minute the Manchester United striker Fellaini scored with a sublime header, assisted by Kevin De Bruyne, which helped Belgium to level the scores. And then in the 80th minute, Belgium went for a counter-attack and Dries Mertens scored for the Red Devils. So in the end two substitutions did the trick for Belgium. In third match of the day, Alexander Kerzhakov rescued Russia, in their first World Cup finals match since 2002, by scoring three minutes after coming on as substitute to salvage a 1-1 draw against South Korea.