On Saturday, June 28th we had the first two matches of the Round of 16 take place. Brazil took on a strong Chile while Colombia faced Uruguay without their star and biting-flesh player Luis Suarez. Both matches were great and filled with many nerves and excitement from the teams that won that day. On Friday we will see Brazil and Colombia face each other after eliminating both Uruguay and Chile during the Round of 16 matchup. This game should also be filled with a lot of entertainment and nerves with the hopes of advancing to the semi-finals. The last time these two teams faced each other was back in November of 2012, which we saw both teams score and ended up in a 1-1 tie. Brazil had a strong competition in their group stage while Colombia had an easy group stage.
Brazil faced a dreaming Croatian team, a strong Mexico team, and a struggling Cameroon team that almost didn’t show up to the world cup. They beat Croatia 3-1 in the opening game with a controversial penalty opening up the scoring, tied 0-0 against Mexico and demolished Cameroon 4-1. With 7 points, it was enough to put Brazil in the Round of 16 and face a strong Chile team. Chile gave them a run for their life but yet we saw Brazil take the win with such luck by their side. Chile had the opportunity to take the win in extra time but with the ball hitting the post, the game went to penalties and we saw Brazil win 3-2, ending the dream for the Chile team.
Colombia had it easy during the group stage facing Ivory Coast, Japan and Greece. They won all three games, 2-1 against Ivory Coast, 4-1 against Japan and 3-0 against Greece giving them 9 points and the leaders of Group C to advance to the Round of 16. There we saw them go against Uruguay who struggled to do anything in the Round of 16 and without their star Luis Suarez. With two beautiful goals from James Rodriguez we saw Colombia secure a spot in the Quarterfinals.
Brazil has seemed to struggle in this world cup. We can say that they are here because of luck and the referees by their side. We saw them exit the world cup in 2006 and 2010 in the Quarterfinals and struggled then as well to win the cup. The last time we saw them lift the cup was in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and before that in 1994 in USA. Along with these two titles, Brazil has won the world cup 3 more times in 1958, 1962 and 1979 and hopes to add one more title to their name. With Oscar, Fernandihno, Neymar, Hulk, Fred, Marcelo, David Luiz, Dani Alvez and Thiago Silva, Brazil looks unstoppable but lets not let names scare the Colombian team. Everyone has seen that Brazil has struggled to get here, facing a strong Chile team and Mexico and Croatia giving them hell in the group stage, its surprising to see them this far.
Photo by: Tania Rego/AGR
Colombia is also a very strong South American team who has done great without their star Radamel Falcao. The last time we saw Colombia in the FIFA World Cup was back in 1998 and they had an early exit as well in 1994 in the group stage. After losing star Andres Escobar back in 1994 due to murder, we saw Colombia enter a stage of depression. Colombia didn’t qualify for the 2002, 2006, and 2010 FIFA World Cup and we can say that it was a struggling 12 years but with new stars shinning for the Colombian National team, we saw them qualify this year. With youngster and lead scorer James Rodriguez and Jackson Martinez, Colombia has looked unstoppable and will do anything to take out Brazil and secure a spot in the semi-finals.
Prediction: Even though Brazil is the host and one of the favorites to win the world cup, there isn’t a chance that Brazil has against Colombia. I have mentioned that Brazil has struggled and they will continue to against Colombia and Colombia will be the team to win it and secure a spot in the semi-finals.
Starting line-ups: Colombia: David Ospina, Zapata, Yepes, Sanchez, Armero, Aguilar, Teo, James Rodriguez, Cuadrado, Zuniga, Jackson Martinez
Brazil: Julio Cesar, Dani Alvez, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo, Luis Gustavo, Fernandinho, Oscar, Hulk, Fred, Neymar
Brazil and Colombia will face each other Friday at 1PM PT and we will see a game filled with many nerve wrecking plays and one team advancing while the other team goes home.
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