Brazil may have survived the Colombian storm with some timely scoring and favorable referee decisions, but they have taken a huge blow for their semifinal against Germany and beyond. First, captain Thiago Silva picked up his second yellow card of the tournament and will miss the semifinal match. Losing your best defender is not a good way to go into a match against the best team in the World Cup. More importantly than that however, is the loss of wonder kid Neymar. The young superstar went down clutching his lower back in the 87th minute. He was stretchered off the field with what we now know is a fractured vertebrae. Brazil may have won the match in the end, but their back has literally been broken in the process.
The match in general was a very physical affair. There was a total of 54 fouls called and four yellow cards shown between the two teams. None of those cards came until foul number 41, however when Silva was given his. The match had been spiraling out of control for some time by then. James Rodriguez had been fouled hard the entire match. It seemed as if Brazil's plan for him was to literally beat him up. There were a couple scuffles that the referee did nothing about. The biggest of them came of a Brazil foul on Rodriguez. Both teams started exchanging words and Colombia just went and took their free kick while it was still going on. Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Caraballo should have called play back and sorted out the mess, but instead he let things take one more step towards devolving into a street fight.
The officiating in this match was rather poor the entire time and it overshadows a very exciting two hours. Colombia had a goal called back on an awful offsides call. Brazil seemed to have the benefit of the doubt any time a close call arose. Caraballo's refusal to justly punish hard fouls possibly directly led to the Neymar injury. Colombia's Juan Zuniga suggested that the foul that caused the injury was a direct retalliation to Brazil's hard fouling on Rodriguez. He claims, however, there was no intent to injure. All Caraballo needed to do was begin brandishing cards against Brazil to discourage their over-physical play and Neymar's World Cup may have been saved.
As for the exciting part of the match, Brazil started the scoring early when Thiago Silva booted in a corner in the seventh minute. Colombia was caught ball watching and not paying attention to the defender slipping in the back door to tap the ball into the open net. Brazil would add to their lead shortly after Colombia's wrongfully disallowed goal. David Luiz rocketed in a beautiful free kick to put Brazil up 2-0. James Rodriguez would put Colombia within reach with a penalty in the 80th minute. Colombia had chances to tie the score late, but poor finishing and untimely runs resulting in offside calls ruined their fortune.
In the earlier quarterfinal, Germany got an early goal from Mats Hummels to see off a lifeless France 1-0. This was a case of France never really getting going. Even when they should have gotten desperate, the French were never able to find a rhythm against the difficult German defense.
Germany and Brazil will face each other in a giant semifinal match on Tuesday. Brazil will have to do so without their leader and their best player. It should be a difficult hill to climb for the hosts.
Today, the quarterfinal round concludes with a couple matches that don't quite have the luster of yesterday's, but will be exciting nonetheless. First, Argentina and Belgium kick off at noon. Since James Rodriguez is eliminated, Lionel Messi has a good shot at the Golden Boot and I look for a big game from the best player in the world. Argentina wins this one 2-0 on his shoulders. At 4pm, darlings Costa Rica take on the Netherlands. Costa Rica is making their first trip to the quarterfinals and are the only CONCACAF team remaining. They will have their hands full against the Netherlands today, but have done well against elite opponents before. I predict the Dutch still win, but it will be a dogfight with a 1-0 final score.
Enjoy the end of the quarterfinals, and pray for some better officiating. See you tomorrow,
No comments:
Post a Comment