Who would have thought that the two goal scorers for Brazil would be their star cornerbacks Thiago Silva and David Luiz, nevertheless the Brazilians found their way through to the semifinals, after beating the Colombians upstarts 2-1.
Brazil found opportunities early on in the game to take control—Neymar had a free kick from outside the box that went wide left, two minutes later Brazil captain Thiago Silva found the back of the net from an untouched corner by Neymar to give Brazil the early lead.
Four minutes later Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado came back with a good look at goal, just missing a few feet wide right. After the shot by the Fiorentina winger, the Brazilians were in control of the match—dominating the possession of the ball 59-41 percent. Colombia found themselves under pressure and on their heels as their host country opponent looked to widen the gap.
Only one minute of extra time was added in the first half, Brazil went into halftime with a lead that could have been bigger than one and the Colombians found themselves in a fortunate position not be out of the game by halftime.
After a first half of physical football that produced more than 20 fouls, the Spanish referees started to produce yellow cards left and right. Thiago Silva was the first Brazilian to get carded and will now miss the semifinal matchup against Germany.
In the 65th minute Colombians seemed to have evened the score but were stopped by an offside call. Three minutes later Colombia forward James Rodrigues received a yellow card, which led to cornerback David Luiz’s masterful free kick goal that gave the Brazilians a 2-0 lead.
The Brazil-Germany matchup seemed all but in place, but a crucial Julio Cesar yellow card gave Colombia life— World Cup scoring leader James Rodriguez put the Colombians back into contention with his sixth goal off his penalty strike at the 80th minute.
After nearly 80 minutes of missed opportunities and sloppy play, the Colombian team of the first four matches seemed to have arrived. Brazil found themselves defending more than they wished to in the last 10 minutes—less than two minutes after the James goal, forward Carlos Bacca nearly tied the game in a span of three minutes.
The score didn’t change but the action never stopped—after a frustrating game Neymar was taken off in a stretcher at the 88th minute due to an injury. Five minutes of extra time were added and the Colombians put all their eggs in one basket but the result stayed the same.
The semifinal dream matchup between Brazil and Germany will now take place for a spot in the World Cup Final.
Javier Cortez may be reached at [email protected].
