When superstar playmaker Neymar put the South Americans ahead with a spectacular effort in the first half of extra time on Friday, Brazilian fans all over the world were left rejoicing.

It was a moment of magic from the Paris Saint-Germain forward in which he penetrated an unbreakable Croatian wall following a brilliant one-two exchange with his teammate culminated in him scoring one of the goals of the tournament—an effort which drew him level with Pele's Brazilian record of 77 goals.

It looked like the end of a 20-year curse, with Brazil having won the last of their record five World Cup titles in 2002.

But minutes from the semifinals after Neymar had smashed the ball into the roof of the net at the end of a sublime move in extra-time, they allowed Croatia substitute Bruno Petkovic to fire home to level.

An unforgivable tactical and mental breakdown ended up costing them the win that they had fought resiliently to achieve throughout the match. Croatia stunned Brazil 4-2 on penalties to reach the World Cup semifinals.

The 30-year-old Neymar broke down in tears when speaking to reporters after the match.

"Honestly, I do not know. I think talking now is bad because of the heat of the moment. Maybe I'm not thinking straight," an emotional Neymar told reporters.

"To say that this is the end would be rushing myself, but I don't guarantee anything either [...] I want to take this time to think about it, think about what I want for myself. I will not close the door to playing with Brazil, nor do I say 100 percent that I'll come back."

After being knocked out in 2006 by France, 2010 by the Netherlands, suffering a 7-1 semi-final humilliation on home soil by Germany in 2014 and being beaten by Belgium four years later, Brazil were on the verge of proving to themselves that they once again possessed the mindset to beat their European rivals on the biggest stage.

They were winning 1-0. Three minutes from time. And instead of keeping possession and counting down the clock, they aggressively went on the attack and kept their defense unguarded.

Luka Modric capitalized on this opening and linked up with his teammates as the Croatians took advantage of their one and only shot on target to stretch the game into penalties.

In the end, the shock of conceding the late equalizer proved too much for Brazil's stunned players who simply crumbled in the shootout.

Dominik Livakovic made more saves against Brazil on Friday than the Brazilian goalkeepers had in total in the entire competition.

“It's difficult. You have to lift your head,” Brazil captain Thiago Silva said. “I'm very proud of the boys and what we've done, but unfortunately, it's part of football. When we lose something important that we had as a goal, it hurts a lot.”

By the end of the day, it was Croatia who looked sharper, more skilled in their passing game and with a precise game plan. They refused to be intimidated by their more illustrious opponents, and in the first half successfully stifled most Brazil moves.

The Croats, who needed two shootouts and an extra-time win to reach the final in 2018 and now have a perfect four-out-of-four record in World Cup penalty shootouts, kept their composure as Brazil's Marquinhos and Rodrygo failed to convert.

"This is just for the Croatian people," said coach Zlatko Dalic. "A great match from the first minute to the last. We eliminated the biggest favorites. This is not the end for us, let's keep going."

In the semifinals, the 2018 runners-up will face Argentina, who beat the Netherlands 4-3 in a penalty shootout.

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