FIFA World Cup 2014 Quarter Final: Brazil 2-1 Colombia- Five Talking Points

Brazil marched into the semi-finals thanks to goals from their two centre backs Thiago Silva and David Luiz in a spirited display from everyone in a Yellow shirt. Although James Rodriguez pulled a goal back for Colombia, the hosts managed to see off a spirited come back and march into their first semi-final since 2002, a year in which they went all the way and won the World Cup.Here are the five major talking points from the game.

#1 Brazils energy and enthusiasm on display

Brazil’s game against Colombia was billed as their biggest test yet. Not only were they taking on a free-flowing attacking team, but also perhaps the team of the tournament so far. With the amount of pressure on the team to win, one wouldn’t have been surprised if the hosts started tentatively. Instead, what Brazil got off the blocks swiftly;starting the game with the energy and swerve that has been lacking in their play so far this tournament.

The early goal was a credit to their frenetic start in which they should have scored at least a couple more. It was almost as if all the pent-up anger and drive of all the players had been channelled with one big aim, get through to the semi-finals. And get through they did, through a combination of some good set-piece play, sustained pressure on the opposition and a few lucky breaks afforded to them by the referee. It was neither the player-crunching Holland of 2010, nor was it the vintage Brazil of 1982. Instead, it was a game in which tactics almost went out of the window, to be replaced by sheer passion, something that might just help Brazil get the two wins they need to claim their sixth World Cup crown.

#2 Referee has a shocker...

The standard of refereeing at the tournament so far hasn’t been all that great. Even still Carlos Velasco Carballo’s performance, perhaps takes the cake. There were a total of 54 fouls over the course of the match and when was the first card shown? After the hour mark. Ironically, it was brandished for perhaps one of the silliest reasons, considering everything that went on in the game to that point. In total, just four yellow cards were shown in a game that saw 53 fouls commited.

For much of the game, it didn’t look like football. It looked rather like the sets of the movie “Purge”, where you could have even gotten away with murder. The Spanish referee’s refusal to step in and brandish a card was evident in the way the game was played. Carballo’s insistence on keeping his cards in his pocket meant that the game got more and more aggressive with Brazil’s rough-house tactics giving them the win eventually.

#3 James Rodriguez was kicked out of the game

Before the start of the game all the talk was about how Brazil was going to nullify the threat of James Rodriguez. There were those who claimed that the hosts should man-mark while there were others who claimed that they should attempt to kick the living daylights out of him. When Fernandinho clattered into the Colombian playmaker early on, it became very clear what tactics Brazil was going to employ.

Although Rodriguez scored a goal and kept up his record of scoring in every World Cup game in this tournament, he was unable to do much else throughout the match. Not only was he surrounded by two or three yellow shirts every time he was on the ball, they also proceeded to kick lumps out of him. Fernandinho in particular was one the main conspirators and was lucky to even stay on the pitch for the entire duration of the game. The Selecao’s physical approach finally got to Rodriguez, whose frustration was evident when he dived into a challenge on Hulk and was promptly booked.

The victim of so many fouls that went unpunished was in the end punished and the fact that Rodriguez wasn’t able come through that, cost Colombia the game.

#4 Selecao struggle to keep up with their samba roots

Brazil has only won two World Cups in the last two decades and both were won when they had pragmatic managers at the helm. Both Carlos Alberto Parreira in 1994 and Luiz Felipe Scolari in 2002 won the Cup by not sticking to the free-flowing attacking traditions that made Brazil a force to be reckoned with on the World stage. Instead, it was a case of a functional team being led by an exceptional player on both occasions.

With Scolari at the helm now, Brazil is now more than happy to grind out wins against opposition and choose functionality over flair. Against Colombia, after a bright start that should have seen them score at least a couple of times, Brazil stuttered and stumbled their way across the finish line.

In a game that should have seen more bookings, Brazil kicked, harried and somehow made their way into their first World Cup semi-final since 2002. None of that will matter, if the hosts notch up two more wins and go into the books as World Cup winners. If they do, Scolari’s methods will be vindicated and the fans’ incorrigible optimism will have finally bore fruit.

#5 Neymars injury might just cost them the World Cup

When Neymar was fouled by Zuniga right at the end of the game, an entire nation collectively held its’ breath. For Neymar had so far been the only flair player in an otherwise functional team. It was on his shoulders that the hopes of an entire nation rested in their bid to win their sixth World Cup. With Thiago Silva already suspended for the semi-final, the fans didn’t want anything to happen to Neymar when he was kneed in the back by Zuniga.

Neymar was taken off on a stretcher with a considerable look of anguish on his face and an entire nation was left waiting for the news on what happened to their talisman. When the news finally did come, it wasn’t a good one. An X-ray in a private clinic in Fortaleza revealed that the Barcelona attacker had fractured a bone in his back, thereby ruling him out of the rest of the tournament. His injury now means that Scolari has a huge decision on his hands and he has to make the right one if he wants to win his second World Cup as a manager.