Brazil will be up against Colombia as the two team’s battle for glory in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2014. The match will be played at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza on Friday, July 4.
While Brazil survived a scare against Chile in the round of 16, winning on penalties after a nervy match, Colombia ousted Uruguay in straightforward fashion as a couple of goals from James Rodriguez either side of half time proved decisive in a 2-0 win.
Rodriguez’s first strike of the match would qualify as one of the best goals in world cup history after the 22 year old showed brilliant chest control before unleashing an unstoppable volley from outside the box.
Brazil need to up their game if they want to give some joy to their fans. While they did win against Chile, they were on the brink of disaster and only the cross-bar denied the Chileans what would have been a well-deserved victory. Julio Cesar was the hero at the end of it all as he saved a couple of penalties and saw the last one go out off the post with the Selecao winning 3-2 on penalties.
The team are always a second away from conceding a goal. Had it not been for the efforts of their captain, Thiago Silva, Brazil would have been out of the tournament by now. Secondly, the home side are extremely dependent on Neymar to make things happen for the side. While Oscar has done well overall, Hulk only showed glimpses of the danger that he possesses in the round of 16.
Fred though, has been an outright disaster for the men in yellow. It is beyond a lot of people why coach Luiz Felipe Scolari picked him ahead of a whole host of strikers to feature for Brazil at the World Cup. It is high time that Scolari employed someone else in Fred’s role looking at how inefficient the striker has been for the home team.
Colombia have no such problems after firing in 11 goals and conceding 3 in the tournament thus far. The likes of Jackson Martinez and Rodriguez have been brilliant for this side while the defenders have been able to hold off some quality strikers in Didier Drogba and Edinson Cavani so far.
Things are looking up for the Colombians and provided that they carry on in the same kind of form that they have exhibited throughout the tournament, there is absolutely no reason why they cannot topple the five time world champions in their own backyard come Friday evening.