Hello.
Yesterday football has returned after a short break and both games were pretty interesting.
In the first one, Brazil took on Chile and have scraped their way through thanks to a penalty shoot-out win. But I didn't like at all the way Brazilians played, that's why I supported Chile.
Honestly, Brazil had two outlets yesterday and both were malfunctioning: Neymar and Hulk. Scolari's team would just lump the ball forward and hope Neymar dances through the defence or Hulk will power his way through, without even turning all green and angry.
Their only goal came from a corner, with Neymar, unsurprisingly, being the one to deliver the ball into the box. Some bloke won a header and Luiz had the simplest of tasks at the far post.
However, Neymar wasn't nearly as effective as he was during the group stages and Brazil tried to involve Hulk more. But, apart from one good shot and a goal rightly disallowed by Webb, Hulk only seemed capable of diving and arguing with linesmen.
Chile, meanwhile, sat back and tried to hit the hosts on the counter. When they succeeded, the Chileans looked dangerous indeed, with that quick passing game of theirs. No wonder the goal (scored by Alexis Sanchez) came from just that sort of attack.
Chile could have easily won it in the dying seconds of extra time, but Penilla hit the bar and Aranguiz saw his shot saved by Cesar.
Julio was the hero again in the shoot-out, saving from two spot-kicks, which allowed the Brazilians to scrape through, despite them screwing up two penalties themselves.
I honestly didn't like the manner in which Brazil got through to the quarter-final. They had one good game (against Cameroon), could easily have lost to a good Mexico side and had two lucky bounces (against Croatia and now Chile). I feel that, as soon they get a decent opponent, they will go down despite help from referees and support from the stands. Chile went close and they are not the toughest opponent left.
Speaking of Chile, I have to single out Sanchez. The Chileans work brilliantly as a collective, but Sanchez is just the icing on the cake. He's quick, he gets into the right positions, he can wiggle out of tight spots. Sanchez is also physical, despite not being very tall or muscular and that showed yesterday. I was particularly impressed by how well Alexis managed to hold off Luiz, winning a good header against PSG's new acquisition at one point.
Sanchez physicality allows him to become not only a good spearhead, but also a sort of springing board for Chile's attacks, thus replicating Giroud's qualities. You can see where this is heading, right? I think we're ought to sign Sanchez.
He's a bit like Giroud, yet also different, thus giving Arsene the opportunity to choose whether to play both strikers together, or whether he wants to deploy Sanchez as a lone striker (from time to time, at least). The Chilean shouldn't be very expensive, either, since he's mostly polishing the bench at the Catalan Club.
Back to the World Cup, and Colombia has beaten a toothless (no pun) Uruguayan side 2-0. James Rodriguez was the mastermind behind this win, scoring twice.
The first one was an absolute stunner, probably the best goal of this World Cup so far. Rodriguez chested the ball down outside the box, took one look at goal and smashed the ball with his left before it even hit the ground. His shot cannoned off the underside of the bar and went in.
Colombians continued to pile on the pressure, peppering Muslera with shots from all angles and positions and this resulted in the second goal 5 minutes after the restart. This one was a very well-worked team effort, Martinez (I think) crossed the ball to the far post, unchallenged Quardado headed it towards Rodriguez and James poked it home from close range.
After that Colombians surrendered possession and let Uruguay come at them. To be fair to the poor chaps, they did have a couple of shots on Ospina's goal, but the latter saved all of these. Pereira had the best chance when the ball bounced to him in the box, but Ospina saved even from point-blank range. Thus the Colombians (deservedly) go through and will face Brazil a week from now.
And I think Peckerman's side stand a decent chance of making it to the semis. They are definitely more interesting and adventurous than the Brazilians and should Rodriguez continue his stunning claim for the Golden Boot, Colombia should beat Brazil like no one's business.
I would have suggested Wenger taking a closer look at Rodriguez, but I've found out this morning that Rodriguez has moved to Monaco just a year ago for a staggering fee of €45 million, thus I don't think it's likely we'll be able to buy him, especially cheap and especially after such a display at the World Cup. But if there are talks of Falcao going to Real, then who knows? He's in exactly the same position as Rodriguez (one year at the Club, huge transfer fee), only Radamel doesn't have a good World Cup under his belt.
That's it for today. Tonight Netherlands play Mexico in what should be an exciting game and later on Costa-Rica takes on Greece.
So I'll be back tomorrow to report on these.
Until then