Pierre Boisrond has followed soccer and the World Cup
closely for many years and also writes for other websites. We at PWC are proud to have him as
a columnist. He will share his views about the past, present and future of
the World Cup.
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Germany and Brazil without Neymar in the Semi-Finals
The first quarter final of Day 22 was between Germany and France. Germany
have always taken their game very seriously. The Germans are on a mission to win this World Cup and they believe in themselves as well.
Mats Hummels scored for Germany in the 13th minute to give them a 1-0 lead. However, it was the French who gave the Germans the first
notice but Benzema was unable to score.
I was a bit disappointed with the French. I expected them to play an attacking football and it seemed their
initial intent was to counterattack the Germans. However, the German goal changed the French strategies. The French had to go for the
equalizer, but the Germans were solid in the back and their goalkeeper, Neuer, had an excellent game as well.
As the first half progressed, both teams had their opportunities. Overall, the Germans were more efficient and
they dictated the first half and had complete control of the initial half. The first half ended 1-0 in favor of the Germans.
In the second half, the French knew they had to go for the equalizer. However, the Germans did not make it easy
for the French. It was not that the Germans played a spectacular game but they were able to control the momentum to prevent the French
from scoring. There were times the French looked very dangerous and had many opportunities to tie the game but Neuer was spectacular at
the end of the game when he stopped Benzema from equalizing the game.
The game was well played and en. I hope the French would have taken the initiative to play attacking football
and that could have put the Germans at bay. On the other hand, that was a good World Cup for France when one compared this World Cup to
the 2010 one. Germany booked their ticket to the semi-finals for 4 consecutive finals (2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014).
The second quarter final game was between Brazil vs Colombia. Brazil won the game 2-0. It was a hard-fought
game. And I think the referee did not have any control of the game which almost ended up in fighting. I think the actions of the
referee might have caused the reasons why players such as James Rodriguez and Neymar were constantly getting fouled and the referee
refused to award yellow cards to the players. Since there was no control, players felt they had the green light to play hard. As a
result, the fans of the round ball or the fans who love great football now are deprived to see Neymar who was injured at the end of
the game and has been ruled out of the World Cup.
Concerning the game, it seems Colombia were intimidated or they could not absorb the Brazilian pressure. In the
first half, Colombia could not do much. The men of Pekerman could not do much. They were horrible in defending the set pieces. Both
Brazilians goals were on set pieces one started via a corner kick by Neymar and Silva put the ball into the Colombian net. Brazil‘s
second goal came from a free kick that David Luiz executed well but Ospina, the Colombian goalie made a mistake by not trusting the
Colombian wall he architected to help him during the free kick.
Brazil won the game 2-1. Colombia was able to score on a penalty kick via James Rodriguez. In this game,
James Rodriguez was well contained by the Brazilians and he was fouled a lot. He could have been injured in the same manner as Neymar.
It was not that Brazil played better than Colombia but Brazil did show up with a sense of determination to win the game and that have
propelled them to win the game. Despite being up 2-1, Colombia went for the equalizer and caused some sort of panic in the Brazilian
defense. The game ended up 2-1 and Brazil will be playing a semi-final against Germany on July 8.
We have to congratulate the Colombian national teams for displaying their football in front of the word. All
Colombians should feel proud of their national team. And they need to remember that they did not have their world class striker, Radamel
Falcao. Great Job, Colombia!
On a different note, it is sad to hear the news of Neymar’s injury. We, at PWC, wish him a speedy recovery;
certainly those who appreciate great football will miss him.
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