Fireworks are bound to fly today when World Cup host Brazil takes on their red-hot South American neighbours Colombia in one of the quarterfinal matches.
Brazil were pushed to the brink by another South American team, Chile, in their Round of 16 match-up, but the hosts squeaked their way to the quarter finals in a dramatic penalty shootout.
Brazil will be hoping to stop an in-form Colombian side who have undoubtedly been the best team of the competition so far.
Meanwhile, Colombia had a far easier ride as superstar-in-the-making James Rodriguez fired them past a Luis Suarez-less Uruguay to reach the last eight for the first time ever.
Colombia has been incredible going forward, but the Netherlands have arguably been the class of this quarter of the World Cup bracket. The Netherlands versus Costa Rica is bound to be another showdown to look forward to.
Brazil has both goalkeeper Julio Cesar and the frame of his goal to thank for keeping its team’s World Cup hopes alive. Cesar made a couple of huge saves, while the post kept Chile’s final penalty out as the hosts emerged winners in a thrilling shootout.
Brazil still hasn’t produced the type of performance expected of the supposed favourites to win the competition. Their play against Chile left much to be desired. Even their wins against Croatia and Cameroon in the group stage were not entirely convincing.
The World Cup hosts has been winning unconvincingly in the competition so far. Their first game against Croatia was a lucky escape, Mexico held them to a 0-0 draw while they beat a rather unconvincing Cameroonian side 4-1 to get into the round of 16.
Chile created all sorts of problems for a very shaky Brazilian defence and they had to dig deep in a game which went into penalties. Brazil of course held their nerves and managed to scrap through to the quarter finals winning on penalties by 3-2.
Their problems upfront still haven’t been resolved. Neymar (four goals in four matches) has done his best to carry the attack, but he hasn’t received the necessary support from his fellow forwards. Fred has been missing in action all tournament long, while midfielder Oscar has gone silent after a bright start.
Brazil will be sweating on the fitness of Neymar after the forward suffered a thigh injury during their gruelling battle with Chile. Having their star playmaker operating at a less than 100% will be a major blow to an offence already sputtering as it is.
Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will have to find goals from somewhere against Colombia, especially if Brazil’s defence is unable to contain its opponents’ free-scoring attacking play. Stopping the Colombians will be a fair bit harder to accomplish now that Luiz Gustavo, the team’s very important defensive midfielder, will be suspended after picking up a second yellow card against Chile.
Gustavo would’ve been the player tasked with keeping an eye on Colombia’s danger man, James Rodriguez. In his place, Scolari will likely bring in Paulinho, who had lost his spot in the starting line-up after struggling mightily in the group stage.
In a matter of four World Cup matches, James Rodriguez has gone from being a virtual unknown to being dubbed ‘the next Lionel Messi’. After matching the Argentine master’s feat of scoring in each of the three group matches, Rodriguez surpassed Messi with a terrific two-goal performance to power Colombia’s 2-0 win over Uruguay in the Round of 16.
His five goals currently have him leading the race for the World Cup Golden Boot, ahead of Messi, Neymar and Germany’s Thomas Muller, who have four goals each.
The first of Rodriguez’s two goals, a sublime volley from the edge of the penalty area, is a contender for goal of the tournament, and displayed his ability to essentially win a match with a Messi-like moment of magic. These are the split-second moments that Brazil, like Uruguay, would have very little defence against.
Although Rodriguez is grabbing all the headlines, Colombia is by no means a one-man team. In fact, they’re playing more like how many expected Brazil or Argentina to perform: with contributions all across the board. Strikers Teofilo Gutierrez and Jackson Martinez have three goals between them, while winger Juan Cuadrado has a goal and four assists, the most so far in the tournament.
With Luiz Gustavo out suspended, Rodriguez may have more time and space with which to work against Brazil to make opportunities for both himself and the rest of his very talented team mates.
The one glaring weakness Colombia had coming into the tournament was its defence, but it has been anything but weak through four matches. Goalkeeper David Ospina has conceded just two goals so far, with 38-year-old captain and center-back Mario Yepes, who was a perceived liability due to his lack of pace, providing solidity at the back.
Hulk and Fred need to step up as Neymar will be marked closely by Colombians. Fred has been the biggest disappointment among the strikers in the World Cup so far and one would expect Scolari to go with Neymar as a no.9 upfront with Hulk and Willian supporting him in attack.
Brazil’s lack of form may eventually catch up with them as Colombia are likely to expose the Selecao’s shortcomings, especially in defence.
