Originally published by Ace Magazine July 2014.
Some teams are born great, others achieve greatness and some actually grind out a result which wasn’t befitting of their glorious past but managed to do the job anyway.
Brazil, with the odd moment of joy in five games of football at this particular World Cup, have flattered themselves and have arguably been fortunate not to lose against Mexico, Chile and now by far the most attractive team to watch from both American continents, the auspicious and skilful Columbians. For many fans of the Brazilian game and there are millions upon millions outside the South Americas, the name of the past are what they have thrived upon.
To hear the names of Sócrates and Zico, Pele and Falcão, are enough to send you in a daydream of utter daylight. The current side rightly has faced criticism from many and the usual almost sycophantic plaudits from others. Perhaps there is an equal line to be drawn, a small foamy one which may disappear after a couple of minutes but none the less one in which not to step over. Yes the Brazil team of today isn’t as good as the ones that football fans fell head over heels in love with, 1962, 1970 and even 1982, they are more calculating, more ready to knuckle down and play hard if they have to because they realise that everybody is coming to kick them off the park, however it doesn’t stop the romantic wishing that but for the complexity of time, Sócrates should have lifted the cup in 1982 and that no matter what they achieve in the semi-final they will not be as lauded as the team that won the tournament in 1970. Romanticism and reality never mix well, especially it seems in Brazilian football.
It doesn’t help when a manager of such stature as Mr. Scolari declares defiantly that “His team would go into Friday night’s World Cup quarter-final against Colombia with “one hand on the trophy.” It smacks of arrogance and belittles the opposition with a false air of superiority, based on a legend rather than fact. If Columbia ever needed a measure of self composure before taking the game to the “World’s Best” then this would surely be their moment.
For Columbia, managed by José Pékerman and never before having made such progress in a World Cup before, the nerves may have been felt but they certainly didn’t show them. This is a team that has excited as you would hope Brazil would have done, in whom the figure and playing ability of James Rodriguez has been a delight, in whom the unbaised and nutural have taken to their hearts in the same way that they have cheered on Costa Rica. Columbia were not going to be the easy fare that Mr. Scolari perhaps imagined.
The prize for both teams was to face Germany in the semi-finals, and judging by a match so lacklustre and devoid of any real attempt to create a game that went beyond dull that even paint drying on the wall would have found life intolerable, there could be an argument made that the Final was only a creative piece of play away from happening. What was needed was an early goal, something in which to make either side come out and fight like the tigers the public knew they could be, like they know themselves to be.
If Neymar has been notable mainly by the odd touch of skill, the small flourish of delight but more so by his absence and arguably inability to live up to the billing afforded him, like a venue suggesting that The Beatles were going to turn up to do a set and yet after money changing hands it turned out to be a tribute act from the outskirts of The North Pole who despite sounding all right only knew songs from the pre-Revolver era.
Yet the captain, a man who also has not had the greatest of months on the field opened the scoring with what could be argued as the greatest bounce off the shin seen on a field of play. From a corner, the ball lofted over everybody but the Columbian defence seemed to show early sign of pressure by managing to collectively lose Thiago Silva who conspired to allow his shin to get on the Brazilian scoring records. This was not a soft goal to concede after just a few minutes, it was perhaps the softest goal that Thiago Silva will ever score and like the referee with his lack of cards brandished; a complete show of leniency shown by either side.
That spectre of leniency nearly caught out the Columbians a couple of times in the minutes ahead and if not for Ospina the score line at half-time could have looked a lot different. The defence was in danger of turning in the type of performance you might expect from a troupe of clowns after finding a small car strategically placed infront of the goal mouth. There is an argument to be made that the 2014 World Cup has been as great as it has been and remarkably exciting purely down to the lack of awareness in almost every team’s box, the final third becoming a minefield for the defending team. It’s a theory but it has made for some incredibly well made goals, teams playing excellent attacking football…however the art of defence is not one to be abandoned like a Government neglecting the poorest in its society, it is just as vital to the well-being of the game as well placed free-kick or mazy run through the midfield.
The art of defence though should not see a wall within two yards from a free-kick having been taken. In what has been the ultimate success of this tournament, the adoption of the spray to mark out ten yards, questions need to be asked of Mr. Carballo handling at times of certain moments of play and his interpretation of the laws of the game. A man in the middle who arguably is not in control soon allows other errors to creep into the game, it is not what you want to see and his failure to send off Julio Cesar as he brought James Rodriguez crashing down, the cynical fouling by Cuadrado and the yellow card for Rodriguez in the dying minutes of the game should be looked at without hesitation by F.I.F.A. It certainly wouldn’t have pleased the eye to see Brazil resorting to the kick and shove aspect of the game that seems to have crept in as of late, with almost every player on the pitch getting some needle in on any opposing player that came within a couple of yards of them.
It was the free-kick and yellow card for Rodriguez that led to Brazil’s second goal and whilst it may have been given in contraversial circumstances there was no doubting the execution in which it was delivered. Davis Luiz may not have shined as bright as the public may have hoped but for one brief shining moment he fully deserved the Man of the Match award. With a free-kick smashed infrom distance and the scorch marks still seen hanging around in the air afterwards, this was a moment of pleasure, of true Brazilian style and brilliance. If Brazil do go on to beat Germany in the next game, then the public in Brazil need to thank Dazid Luiz with every possible plaitude. Statues and effigies in Brazil have created for less.
If this had been England, they would have folded quicker than an inexperianced poker player being handed a single pair to work with but this Columbian side is made of stern stuff. Rather than laying down and letting Brazil romp away to a ill-deserved scoreline they fought back and when Julio Cesar bought James Rodriguez down with more brought force than an illegal logger tearing up the Amazon Forest, there was suddenly a way back for the Columbians. With a stuttering run up, James Rodriguez tucked the ball easily past the despairing goalkeeper, who was fortunate to stay on the pitch, and give the team in red hope of a grandstand finish.
It was not to be and as Neymar was taken off worryingly for the Brazil fans towards the end by stretcher, thoughts in the crowd, especially for the older fan with long memories would have returned to the moment where Pele was led of the pitch clutching his shoulder. Two iconic young men at the top of the game generations apart; it was easy to see connections being made and worry take a grip as the final whistle went and the celebrations began in ernest on the beaches of Rio.
Columbia have not disgraced themselves and have won many new fans and friends with their impassioned displays over the last couple of weeks. Brazil will look to the Germany game with renewed vision but lurking like a spectre from World Cups past, the party might just come to an end if the European team get their groove back together. It can only hoped that the game is a true blinder between German technique and seemingly lost Brazilian flair and true desire.
Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcello, Fernandinho, Paulinho, Hulk, Neymar, Oscar, Fred.
Substitutes: Hernanes, Ramires, Henrique.
Columbia: David Ospina, Juan Zuniga, Cristian Zapata, Mario Yepes, Pablo Armero, Fredy Guarin, Carlos Sanchez, Juan Cuadrado, James Rodriguez, Victor Ibarbo, Teofilo Gutierrez.
Substitues: Adrian. Ramos, Carlos Bacca, Juan Quintero.
Venue: Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)
Goal Scorers: Brazil, Thiago Silva, David Luiz. Columbia, James Rodriguez.
Final Score: Brazil 2-1 Columbia
Man of the Match: David Luiz (Brazil)
*At time of writing, Naymar was in hosptital being ruled out of further particaption in the World Cup.
Ian D. Hall