BY Victor Akhidenor
Just before the quarter-finals of the World Cup kick off on Friday, we bring you 10 of the many good and ugly moments of the second round.
Unlike the previous round, though, every action was on the pitch. The Black Stars have gone home!
1. Chilling game and penalty shootout drama for Brazil and their fans
The game against Chile elicited different moods from Brazil fans in the stadium. From cheers when the Selecao went ahead through David Luiz to despair when Alexis Sanchez equalised, the tension in the air was palpable and you could even touch it! Their moods if plotted on a graph would have been zigzag, especially during the real drama of the shootout.
Keeper Julio Cesar produced stunning saves to stop Pinilla and Alexis Sanchez after David Luiz scored with Brazil’s first kick. Although Willian blew his chance, Marcello put the Samba boys 2-0 up. The drama was cranked up when Charles Aranguiz thumped his penalty into the roof of the net then Hulk’s effort was saved by Barcelona-bound Bravo. When Marcelo Diaz scored Chile’s fourth spot kick, the rivals were locked at 2-2. Then ice-cool Neymar danced up to score, heaping the pressure on to Gonzalo Jara. The defender – who is without a club after leaving Nottingham Forest last season – could only watch in agony as his penalty cannoned off the inside of a post and Chile were out.
Brazil are in the quarter-finals but their fans partied as though had won the World Cup!
Julio Cesar exorcised the ghost of four years ago after his penalty kick heroics against Chile saw Brazil qualify for the next round. The Toronto goalkeeper was the scapegoat in South Africa in 2010 when Brazil lost to Holland in the World Cup quarter-final.
Cesar broke down in tears before (and after) the shootout and was still visibly emotional as he collected his man-of-the-match award.
…James Rodriguez. Actually it is pronounced as “Ah-mez” but his strike against Uruguay has a single meaning: class — the same with the secret service agent in 007 movies.
After 27 cagey opening minutes, Abel Aguilar headed the ball forward to Rodriguez just outside the area, although he had his back to goal. There was no immediate sense of danger, but this is a prime predator who sees when the kill is on before anyone else.
He took the ball on his chest and then, lightning fast, on the turn, struck a sensational left-footed volley that dipped viciously before going in off the underside of the bar. The stadium erupted, neutrals along with Colombians, in recognition of sheer brilliance.
With this strike, Rodriguez became the first player since 2002 to score in his first four games at the tournament, matching a feat accomplished only by superstars Ronaldo and Rivaldo, who each netted in Brazil’s first four matches in Korea/Japan.
Mexico were on course of reaching their first quarter-finals since hosting the World Cup in 1986 after Giovani dos Santos’ stunning strike broke the deadlock against the Netherlands early in the second half.
However, their resistance was broken two minutes from full-time when Wesley Sneijder rifled home from the edge of the box; then the North American side were left shell-shocked and heartbroken in the fourth minute of injury time when substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted from the penalty spot after a foul on Arjen Robben by Rafael Marquez, to cap a miraculous turnaround.
Lightning can indeed strike twice in the same spot (box) in two minutes!
The intense heat in Fortaleza where Holland and Mexico met on Sunday brought the famous timeouts into play for the first time in the competition. Due to the heat, match referee Pedro Proenca announced the first timeout just after the half hour mark in the first half of the game.
The break lasted three minutes and allowed the players time to fully rehydrate and get their breath back. The intense heat in Fortaleza saw temperatures over 30 with levels of humidity above 90 per cent – more than the levels stipulated by FIFA when allowing for stoppages to the games.
In the group stages, there was a short pause in the Portgual and USA game but it was not the official stoppage that the referee called for in the Castelao stadium on Sunday.
We didn’t see this coming. Costa Rica, dumped in a supposed ‘Group of Death’ with England, Italy and Uruguay, are in the World Cup quarter-finals, taking on Louis van Gaal’s rampant Dutch team.
A dogged, never-say-die attitude with terrific organisation and a goalkeeping master class from Keylor Navas saw Jorge Luis Pinto’s side battle through to a victorious penalty shootout win over Greece on Sunday night.
The Dutch are the overwhelming favourites to beat Costa Rica, for sure. But there’s always a little room for a surprise.
We all love fairytales. Well, most of us do.
Matuidi is now the byword for horrible tackles.
Blaise Matuidi’s lunge on Ogenyi Onazi, which has left the Lazio player with a fractured tibia and fibula in his left leg, was the defining and — depending how you look at it — memorable moment in the game between France and Nigeria.
With the match evenly poised at 0-0, Matuidi caught Onazi in the 55th minute. The Nigerian was carried off on a stretcher and never to return to the game. The French took over the midfield and exposed the Super Eagles’ defence. They duly scored 27 minutes later.
A repeat of the famous win over West Germany in 1982 World Cup was on the cards, as Germany toiled for large periods of the game, with Mario Goetze, Toni Kroos and Philipp Lahm below par in midfield against a vibrant, fleet-footed Algerian side. Indeed, on more than one occasion, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was forced into a sweeper-keeper role as the Africans broke through Germany’s high defensive line. But it was not meant to be, as the three-time World champions prevailed in extra time.
Andre Schurrle fired home after great work from Thomas Muller. A second then came when Mesut Ozil rammed home on 119 minutes. Algeria weren’t beaten yet, however, and managed to get a deserved consolation goal via Abdelmoumene Djabou at the death.
Switzerland knew that the easiest way to beat Argentina was through penalty shootout and with 10 minutes of the game remaining, their plan almost came to fruition. Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria had other plans though.
Messi seized control of the game, picking up a loose ball in midfield and hurtling past three challenges before laying the ball off for Di Maria. The Real Madrid star scored with a wonderfully placed shot past Diego Benaglio. Heartbreaking!
Late goals from Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne may have ensured Belgium’s qualification into the quarter-finals at the expense of USA, but their goalkeeper Tim Howard stole the show with his 16 saves that set a new World Cup record for most saves in a single match. The previous record had stood since 1978, when Peru’s Ramon Quiroga made 13 stops during a 0-0 draw against Holland.
Amongst the amazing goalie performances from the likes of Kelvin Navas, Guillermo Ochoa and Vincent Enyeama, Tim Howard’s 120 minutes versus the Red Devils was arguably the best of the lot.
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