Written by: Armando Zamora • July 4, 2014• World Cup

World Cup Recap: Day 20

The first day of Quarter Finals matches resulted in the elimination of two more nations, this time time by the end of the 90 minutes of regulation time. Germany faced France and Brazil faced Colombia, both matches were tight and hard to separate but ultimately there was a winner for each match and the first game of the Semi Finals has been set!

The first game of the day was the battle of heavyweights: Germany v France. While the game was close it was Germany who came in the slight favorites and the Germans came in strong racing forward, looking for the early goal that would give them the advantage and chance to settle the game early if they could score again. In the 13′ Germany found the first goal following a free kick that allowed Mats Hummels to head the ball past Hugo LLoris in what would eventually be the only goal of the game. France struck back several times with dangerous attacking flair as they looked for the equalizer but the hands of Manuel Neuer would not let the French equalize and at the 90′ Germany had found the win and their place in the final 4, awaiting their rival, the winner of the following match between Brazil and Colombia.

Brazil had behind them an entire nation to cheer them into victory while Colombia had the hopes of beating Brazil, who has not lost a game in Brazil since 2002. After just 7 minutes, Colombia had given the home nation a corner kick that would then result in the first goal of the game thanks to Thiago Silva’s clean header past Colombia’s goalkeeper. Colombia played a slow first half that featured a team that could mark well in defense and struggled in transition when in counter attacks, a trait that had made them exciting during group stage. Brazil made the mistake of lacking respect for their opponent and as a result only had a 1-0 lead at half time when it could have easily been 2 or 3-0. After half-time the Colombians switched on in hopes of making the game even but it became clear that even their strongest attacking could not keep up with the Brazilian defense who finally found the form they were missing before. As Brazil played their best football, Colombia played their worst. David Luiz scored the second goal for Brazil from an incredible distance that not only showcased his precision but also David Ospina’s lack of form in between the goalposts. Following Brazil’s second goal, Colombia realized if they did not step up they would be going home and brought out all the guns and managed to draw a penalty that resulted in a goal to give them hope. However this wasn’t enough as Brazil kept the lead at the 90′ and won the game 2-1 to eliminate Colombia and advance to face Germany in the Semi finals.

Tomorrow’s games

Argentina v Belgium @Noon

Netherlands v Costa Rica @4PM

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