Both
managers made surprising changes in their starting Xls so Maicon played his
first game at tournament the with Alves only at the bench. The main question for
Scolari lied in the middle of the pitch as Luiz Gustavo was suspended.
Fernandinho was always likely to start and Paulinho got the other spot in
favour of Hernanes or Ramires. Hulk played on the left, Oscar on the right.
Pekerman brought Ibarbo back into the side in the place of Martinez so Colombian attack was same as in the first crucial group games. Surprisingly, Guarin started ahead of Aguilar alongside Sanchez.
Pekerman brought Ibarbo back into the side in the place of Martinez so Colombian attack was same as in the first crucial group games. Surprisingly, Guarin started ahead of Aguilar alongside Sanchez.
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| Starting XIs |
High tempo start
The game´s
tempo was set right from the kick off – Colombia played a long ball towards
Gutierez right away. Both teams committed numbers when going forward and Brazil
was on top for the first half an hour and they could have been more than 1-0 up
by then. The game settled down after 22 minutes when Colombia wasted a 4 v 2
counter and Brazil realised that they need to be more careful.
Brazil´s goal came after good corner from Neymar and poor marking by Sanchez who was caught ball watching and Silva managed to guide the ball into the net at far post. Colombia were a bit unlucky though, as two of their players went for a header and none of them connected with it and the ball fell into the path of Silva.
Brazil put some serious pressure on Colombia´s back line with some good passing and long diagonals towards Hulk with Marcelo supporting him. Hulk had couple of decent chances during that period, but his shooting was poor and Ospina made a great save to keep out his only dangerous effort.
Brazil´s goal came after good corner from Neymar and poor marking by Sanchez who was caught ball watching and Silva managed to guide the ball into the net at far post. Colombia were a bit unlucky though, as two of their players went for a header and none of them connected with it and the ball fell into the path of Silva.
Brazil put some serious pressure on Colombia´s back line with some good passing and long diagonals towards Hulk with Marcelo supporting him. Hulk had couple of decent chances during that period, but his shooting was poor and Ospina made a great save to keep out his only dangerous effort.
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| Hulk - shots, 1st half |
Stopping James
Brazil´s
plan to stop Colombia´s star player was obvious. Fernandinho sat in front of
the back four and closed him down as soon as the ball was played into him. He
made couple of bookable fouls on James, but none of them were awarded with a
yellow card - we will get to that later.
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| Fernandinho - fouls committed |
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| Fernandinho - tackles |
Despite being
tightly marked and fouled 4! times in the first half, he managed to create a
couple of promising moments for Colombia, the 4 v 2 counter attack, when he
managed to turn around and avoid two challenges before playing Cuadrado into
the box, the best moment. However, Colombia couldn´t get him on the ball as
often as usual and their best attacking moments came down the flanks with
Guarin and Armero sending in few dangerous crosses.
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| James - passes received 1st half |
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| James - fouls suffered 1st half |
Second half and subs
Jose
Pekerman made a clever change going into the second half with Ramos coming on
for ineffective Ibarbo. He went upfront alongside Gutierez and James moved to
the left, where he got more room than in the middle and Colombia looked more
like a 4-2-2-2.
However, second half started much slower than the first one and it took about 15 minutes until things started to happen again. Colombia had a goal disallowed for offside before Luiz stuck in beautiful free kick from range. Carlos Bacca replaced Gutierez up front right away and James started to be more central again. Brazil´s last chance of the game fell to Neymar, who found a little space on the edge of the box and curled his left footed shot just wide of the post.
Brazil became incredibly nervous after going 2-0 up. There were panicking at times and simply kicking the ball out as far as possible. With 20 minutes still to go, they surely didn´t look like Brazil and Colombia could feel, that there is still a chance if they can find a contact goal from somewhere. It came from a penalty and James recorded his 6th goal of the tournament. Spit kick was awarded for a foul by Cesar on Bacca who was sent through by who else than James Rodriguez?
Cuadrado who had a rather poor game was replaced by Quintero and he played in few good free kicks, but Brazil managed to clear them.
As mentioned before, Brazil were really nervous and couldn´t get their passes together and it was surprising to see that Scolari waited until 82nd minute to make his first change. He made other two within the next five minutes to try to kill the game and introduced more defensive player every time. Ramires came on for Hulk, Hernanes for Paulinho and Henrique for Neymar, who was in some serious pain after Zuniga´s strong tackle.
Brazil were 4-5-1 for the last minutes of the game with Oscar and Ramires on the sides and Hernanes, Fernandinho and Henrique in the middle and prevented Colombia finding a way for that last chance to level the score line.
However, second half started much slower than the first one and it took about 15 minutes until things started to happen again. Colombia had a goal disallowed for offside before Luiz stuck in beautiful free kick from range. Carlos Bacca replaced Gutierez up front right away and James started to be more central again. Brazil´s last chance of the game fell to Neymar, who found a little space on the edge of the box and curled his left footed shot just wide of the post.
Brazil became incredibly nervous after going 2-0 up. There were panicking at times and simply kicking the ball out as far as possible. With 20 minutes still to go, they surely didn´t look like Brazil and Colombia could feel, that there is still a chance if they can find a contact goal from somewhere. It came from a penalty and James recorded his 6th goal of the tournament. Spit kick was awarded for a foul by Cesar on Bacca who was sent through by who else than James Rodriguez?
Cuadrado who had a rather poor game was replaced by Quintero and he played in few good free kicks, but Brazil managed to clear them.
As mentioned before, Brazil were really nervous and couldn´t get their passes together and it was surprising to see that Scolari waited until 82nd minute to make his first change. He made other two within the next five minutes to try to kill the game and introduced more defensive player every time. Ramires came on for Hulk, Hernanes for Paulinho and Henrique for Neymar, who was in some serious pain after Zuniga´s strong tackle.
Brazil were 4-5-1 for the last minutes of the game with Oscar and Ramires on the sides and Hernanes, Fernandinho and Henrique in the middle and prevented Colombia finding a way for that last chance to level the score line.
Referee
There have been some bad refereeing at this World Cup, with red cards being or not being shown at the right time, penalties being awarded for clear dives, but this game was completely out of the line. There have been 54! fouls and only 4 yellow cards. Cesar was booked when he took Bacca down in the box and you wouldn´t be surprised if that was a red card. Thiago Silva got book for a silly block on Ospina when he tried to start the counter after set-piece. James was booked for a slide tackle when he barely touched Hulk – Luiz scored from that free kick and Colombia´s captain Yepes was booked for protests afterwards. It is incredible to see considering the number of fouls and some of them were really worth of a yellow card. Sometimes it is good to see that referee doesn´t want to influence the game by unnecessary bookings early on etc, but in this case it would perhaps help the game and couple of booking wouldn´t even be unnecessary. Brazil was more dangerous down the left with Hulk and Marcelo combining well and Neymar´s usual runs towards the left wing. Scolari wouldn´t be happy for the attacking contribution of Fred, Oscar and Paulinho as all of them had minimum impact and they will need to improve significantly in the game against Germany if they are to play the final. Colombia had a very good tournament and especially James Rodriguez made his name.
Conclusion
The game was very open in the early stages and Brazil took the lead through corner. Colombia were on the back foot in the first half and they should regret wasting that 4 v 2 break that could have put them level. Brazil´s plan to stop James worked from them as he wasn´t involved as much, but it would have been interesting to see how much space he would have if Fernandinho was book for one of his challenges and would have to more careful. Cuadrado had a poor game and he was losing a ball very often and Pekerman might have taken him off earlier. Colombia improved in the second half with introduction of Ramos and moving to two striker system.
Highlights: Brazil 2:1 Colombia
There have been some bad refereeing at this World Cup, with red cards being or not being shown at the right time, penalties being awarded for clear dives, but this game was completely out of the line. There have been 54! fouls and only 4 yellow cards. Cesar was booked when he took Bacca down in the box and you wouldn´t be surprised if that was a red card. Thiago Silva got book for a silly block on Ospina when he tried to start the counter after set-piece. James was booked for a slide tackle when he barely touched Hulk – Luiz scored from that free kick and Colombia´s captain Yepes was booked for protests afterwards. It is incredible to see considering the number of fouls and some of them were really worth of a yellow card. Sometimes it is good to see that referee doesn´t want to influence the game by unnecessary bookings early on etc, but in this case it would perhaps help the game and couple of booking wouldn´t even be unnecessary. Brazil was more dangerous down the left with Hulk and Marcelo combining well and Neymar´s usual runs towards the left wing. Scolari wouldn´t be happy for the attacking contribution of Fred, Oscar and Paulinho as all of them had minimum impact and they will need to improve significantly in the game against Germany if they are to play the final. Colombia had a very good tournament and especially James Rodriguez made his name.
Conclusion
The game was very open in the early stages and Brazil took the lead through corner. Colombia were on the back foot in the first half and they should regret wasting that 4 v 2 break that could have put them level. Brazil´s plan to stop James worked from them as he wasn´t involved as much, but it would have been interesting to see how much space he would have if Fernandinho was book for one of his challenges and would have to more careful. Cuadrado had a poor game and he was losing a ball very often and Pekerman might have taken him off earlier. Colombia improved in the second half with introduction of Ramos and moving to two striker system.
Highlights: Brazil 2:1 Colombia
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