July 04, 2014

Brazil Knocks Out Colombia, But Loses Neymar: In a match full of hard fouls and poor officiating, Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1 with goals from Thiago Silva and David Luiz. Colombia's James Rodriguez scored on a penalty to cut the lead in half. Brazilian star Neymar took a knee to the back in the 88th minute on a hard foul by Colombia's Juan Camilo Zuniga and suffered a broken vertebra, ending his tournament.

posted by rcade to soccer at 11:43 AM - 9 comments

They must feel compelled to continue the tradition.

From the BBC's 1998 Cup final reportage:

The most dramatic account came from Ronaldo's roommate Roberto Carlos.

He said: "Ronaldo was scared about what lay ahead. The pressure had got to him and he couldn't stop crying".

The Brazilian media demanded to know why Ronaldo had been allowed to play when his mind was clearly not on the game.

posted by beaverboard at 01:27 PM on July 04, 2014

First 30 minutes of this one has been Hagler-Hearns.

posted by beaverboard at 04:38 PM on July 04, 2014

I don't think Brazil needed the ref's help to win, but they sure got it.

posted by Hugh Janus at 08:48 PM on July 04, 2014

Neymar is out for the rest of the tournament with a fracture of a vertebra.

posted by grum@work at 08:56 PM on July 04, 2014

Did anyone else see the giant motherfucking bug on James Rodriguez after he scored on the penalty kick?

And in case you think that's 'shopped into the picture...

posted by grum@work at 02:47 AM on July 05, 2014

In case anyone thought the beautiful game was still alive, Big Phil dug up the corpse, hit it over the head with a shovel, cut it up into pieces with an axe, then reburied it beneath the soil of Fortaleza last night.

posted by owlhouse at 06:19 AM on July 05, 2014

Keep the quality coming, Yahoo.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:28 AM on July 05, 2014

That ref was atrocious. He let them beat the hell out of each other all game and that eventually led to Neymar getting hurt.

The worst call may have been on a Colombia free kick. It defeats the purpose of the aerosol line if the ref lets some players stand outside of it and charge the free kick from no more than six yards away, as Neymar did on a kick as close as the one David Luiz scored on.

posted by rcade at 10:34 AM on July 05, 2014

Shit, the ref stopped painting lines for almost all the Colombian free kicks in the second half, while continuing to paint them when Brazil was kicking. Was he afraid he'd run out of shaving cream?

Not to mention the yellow card he gave for James' first bad tackle, in which there was clearly no contact at all. Seemed like a strange choice against backdrop of consistent cynical and violent Brazilian back line challenges going uncarded. Of course the Colombians eventually retaliated.

And it looked to me like Julius Caesar ought to have been awarded a red card instead of a yellow.

I'm no fan of Colombia but the refereeing made that game look fixed.

posted by Hugh Janus at 12:00 PM on July 05, 2014

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