Brazil beat Colombia
July 5, 2014
Bookmakers appointed Colombia the slight favorites over hosts Brazil in recognition of the Cafeteros' convincing performances in their first four matches. But it was a case of the empire striking back in Forteleza, as the Selecao sprinted out of the blocks and duly took the lead after only seven minutes.
Superstar Neymar won a corner, which he duly put past Colombia's first line of defense. Captain Thiago Silva was in the right place to steer the ball over the line with his knee.
Brazil continued to dominate the first half. Forward Hulk got a number of decent looks at goal, but couldn't find his range. Meanwhile, the Selecao tightly marked Colombia's James Rodriguez, who for many people had been the player of the World Cup thus far. The forward spent a considerable amount of time on his backside after being subject to a number of niggling fouls.
Colombia substituted in additional striker Adrian Ramos, but that didn't break the host country's dominance. The buoyant mood appeared to be spoiled momentarily when captain Thiago Silva picked up a seemingly needless booking after preventing the Colombian goalkeeper from tacking his kick - the yellow card suspends Silva from the semifinal.
The longer the match wore on, the more frequent fouls became, and when Rodriguez brought down Hulk seven minutes after the hour mark, Brazil doubled their lead thanks to a stunning, 30-yard free kick from defender David Luiz.
Brazil keeper Julio Cesar handed Colombia a way back into the match late on though, when he up-ended Carlos Bacca in the box. Rodriguez sent Cesar the wrong way to make it 2-1 and set up a frantic finale.
The hosts were under pressure, but the Selecao continued to defend stubbornly and secured the 2-1 victory to set up a classic semifinal with Germany next Tuesday after Joachim Löw's team overcame France 1-0 earlier in the day.
Perhaps more worrying for Brazil than the suspension of their captain, was the fact that Neymar had to be carried off the pitch after taking a knee to the back four minutes from time.