Brazil had already won their group when they faced Cameroon and would face no consequences if they lost, so they rested players. This sort of thing happens ofte

Brazil had already won their group when they faced Cameroon and would face no consequences if they lost, so they rested players. This sort of thing happens often when a team wins their group with a game to spare. It feels like the first games in the group stage often throw up weird results. It’s like sometimes teams need a game to get up to speed. You’ve pointed out Argentina vs Saudi, but the same could be said of Iran vs England — Iran were much better in their next two games. But you weren’t expecting Iran to get through anyway. Germany aren’t that good anymore. I don’t know why you think Japan beating them was so unlikely. There is always a team that does unexpectedly well. It is a knockout tournament after the group stage — you have to expect unexpected things to happen. This time it’s Morocco getting through to the semis.