|
Day 12 - Neymardependency
By Gabriel Cazotto
In the early afternoon, in a group already defined, the Netherlands and Chile
fought for the first place for theoretically "avoid" Brazil. In a quiet game, Holland was better, mainly because of their best player and
the best player of the World Cup so far, Arjen Robben, who decided in favor of the OranJe.
The melancholy farewell of La Roja in the second game saw David Villa said goodbye from the National Team with one of the best goals in
World Cup history, with a fantastic backheel (please correct if I’m wrong, but this is the first backheel goal in the history of the
tournament), and he cried. A cry who probably describes the end of the Tiki-Taka possession of La Roja who might turn back to a more
vertical game style of old the Fúria. The question is whether this return of the Fúria will put Spain again in the ostracism of yore.
Chile will have, now, the “burden” of facing the hosts Brazil for the fourth time in a playoff for the World Cup, having already been
eliminated in all 3 (4x2 in 1962, 4-1 in 1998 and 3-0 in 2010).
Brazil, which showed on the field that they indeed might fear the swift Chilean team. Again against Cameroon the side defenders were
badly once more, Daniel Alves continues to be an avenue on the right, while Marcelo has not played the same football that he made this
season at Real Madrid. In the goal of Cameroon, perhaps the worst squad of this tournament happened in the left side of Marcelo in one
touch to the goal from Matip.
But if Brazil plays poorly on the sides and especially has no creation whatsoever, with Paulinho again awful, and Oscar off his game,
Brazil relied on his Golden boy of only 22 years old, who called by himself the responsibility to change the score. Neymar. Now the top
scorer of the tournament secured the tranquility of a Brazilian team totally dependent of Neymar. Fernandinho was a glimmer of hope for
the place in Midfielder instead of Paulinho. But if Scolari does not fix the team against Chile, perhaps the genius of this
Neymardependency in the playmaker together with Alexis and Vargas running through the back sidelines of Marcelo and Daniel Alves,
the Brazilian party may terminate this Saturday already.
Mexico and Croatia were playing for the second place in the Group. Mexico that was virtually eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers
for 2 minutes to Panama, and only got the result after two U.S. goals in injury time and the victory over New Zealand in the playoffs
should be up today thanking Uncle Sam, and especially its Exotic Coach Miguel Herrera, the Lion Heart in person.
The Bravery of the Mexicans was enough to control the Croatian technique. Rafa Márquez header opened the score and made him the first
Mexican to score in three World Cups, while captaining 4. Guardado and Chicharito still marked the second and third in the 3x1 which
puts Mexico in the next round. Mexico, together with Brazil and Germany are the only teams to always move from the first stage in World
Cups since 1994. A worthy achievement for a team that faces the Netherlands and wants to expunge the curse of the quarterfinals, which
they have never reached since 1986, at home.
Man of the Matches:
Arjen Robben - NED
David Villa - ESP
Neymar - BRA
Rafa Marquez - MEX
|
[HOME]
BACKGROUND
Info on how
the World Cup was founded and about the trophy as well. |
THE
WORLD CUPS
Detailed info
on every match in every tournament. |
COLUMNISTS
Interesting columns about the past, present and future of the World Cup. |
THE
NATIONS
Every nation
with appearances in the World Cup. Detailed info on every country. |
LEGENDS
Player profiles
of many of the most influential players in history. |
A-Z STORIES
An A-Z collection
of strange and different stories in World Cup history. |
STATISTICS
A big collection
of various statistics and records. |
MASCOTS
Every mascot
since it was introduced in 1966. |
QUIZ
Test your
knowledge about the WC. Three different levels. No prizes, just for fun. |
TOP
10 RANKINGS
Rankings of
lots of stuff. For instance Best Goals, Best Players and Best Matches. |
LINKS
Our collection
of links to other soccer sites with World Cup connection. |
LINK
TO
Some banners
and buttons for you to link to us if you want. |
ABOUT
US
A little information
on who keeps this site available. |
|
