Tag Archives: Colombia

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Five things from….Brazil 2 Colombia 1


I thought the wait would never end…finally we have football back on our TVs.  With it being hotter than Greece*I decided to keep the al fresco feeling going and took the World Cup to the masses.  Well, my neighbours actually by using my little travel (work) projector to beam the game onto the side of the house.  They were impressed.  So impressed that they announced 10 minutes before kick off they were going to the pub to watch it. Love Thy Neighbour?  Not in SE9 obviously.

This game, probably more than any of the other quarter finals, would have a significant impact on the competition.  The host nation have stumbled through to this stage, playing unconvincingly in every game, bar an hour of the opening game against Croatia.  They relied on penalties to beat Chile whilst Colombia have got stronger as the tournament has progressed, with James Rodriquez the man of the moment.  The days of loveable, laughable Higuita, Asprilla and Valderrama are long gone, replaced by a team of flair and workmen.  And let’s not forget their most influential player, Radamel Falcao is injured, spending his time this summer with one of my friends, Natalia Velez (have I told you I met her?).

1. Making it up – ITV’s Jon Champion hints at dissent among the Brazilian ranks during the penalties in the last game against Chile, singling out Thiago Silva who “took himself off to sit on his own”…This is two hours after BBC had shown a feature at HT in the France v Germany game about how Thiago Silva, among others, prayed during the penalties and that is why he sat alone. Nothing like the truth to get in the way of a story.

photo2. “Good refereeing” – According to Andy Townsend, because the game is close then the referee is doing the right job in not yellow carding persistent offenders to let the game flow.  Townsend believes that there should be a different set of rules in every game.  Five minutes later he said “Yellow card has to come out soon.  You cannot keep letting them get away with it”.  Townsend is paid to watch and comment on football.  Champion also suggests that players should be booked so that the more creative ones can “breathe”….

3. “The next goal wins” – Great comment at HT by Adrian Chiles who suggests the scorer of the next goal wins….of course if it is Colombia who score then the game would be a draw…Mouth/Brain/Engage.

4. Referee! – James Rodriquez is kicked to pieces in the first half and gets nothing.  Then he makes one challenge and is carded…oh, and to rub it in, Luize scores from the free-kick – one of the first direct free-kick of this World Cup.  Then he doesn’t send off the Brazilian keeper for bringing down the Colombian forward….No suspicion of referees favouring the host nation then.

5. Say no to racism – Why is the sign only in English?

Beer World Cup

Sorry, but was still indulging in the German efforts from earlier….so this ended..

Brazil 0 Colombia 0

*as of 4pm it was 28 degrees at TBIR Towers and only 27.5 degrees in Mykonos, Greece.

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Five things from….Colombia 2 Uruguay 0


So how do you follow that game?  Brazil v Chile was nearly three hours of pure football gold, as Partridge would have said.  Penalties are the cruelest way to settle such an enthralling tie but you had the feeling that neither side would have scored again if they had played for another hour, such was the tiredness of all the players.  But football is about winners and losers so whilst Chile would be heading back home across the Andes, Brazil would be able to go out on the piss until Friday night.  But who will they play?

It’s fair to say that most football fans across the world would be shouting for Colombia in this game.  Not just for the ridiculous stance taken by Uruguay over Suarez – and let’s not forget that if the average man in the street had done what he did, he could be charged with assault but because the Colombians style of play is nice on the eye, not to mention the frequent close ups of some of their more photogenic fans in the crowd.

1. Clever corner-kicks – So what was wrong with that Colombian corner-kick where he tapped it and then left it to his mate?  Not enough of this type of sneaky innovation in the game today so it should be applauded rather penalised.  There is always the danger that they will go wrong, as Thierry Henry and Robert Pires will testify.

2. Proper goal – Rodriquez’s opening goal – wow.  Wow. WOW.  Perfect control, outstanding shot and to make it even better it hit the underside of the bar.  Goals are always so much better when they hit the underside of the bar and bounce down. Not quite in the Johnny Metgod class but close…Uurguay’s response?  Keep their 5-4-1 shape…of course.

photo3. Empty seats – Where did everyone who was sitting on the halfway line go?  Ten minutes after half time and it was still a mass of empty yellow seats?  The Brazilian authorities must have been taking lessons from Club Wembley.

4. The flappy man – Remember the bird man of Colombia from Italia 1990 and France 1998? Well Gustav Llanos is back here in Rio, although he has been stuck in the corner behind the goal. But when his moment came, with a corner to Colombia, he sprung to life and flapped his big wings.  The TV cameras seem to have been told to just focus on the pretty females in the crowd in this tournament.

5. Bogie team – The last four games between Brazil and Colombia, outside of the Copa America, have all been drawn – with three goal less games.  Expect next Friday’s game to be a corker now.