Well, those were two interesting knock out games yesterday
weren’t they? Brazil just sneaked by an impressive and swashbuckling Chile
while Colombia coolly and calmly despatched a mentally weakened Uruguayan side.
What do any of these results tell us though, if anything at all?
Well, first off it suggests that I was perhaps a little too
hasty when I suggested that Brazil had finally taken this World Cup by the
scruff of the neck. Indeed they made very hard work of defeating Chile, needing
the lottery of penalties to finally finish them off.
That being said, Chile have shown themselves to be excellent
value in this tournament. They had difficulty at times against both Australia
and Holland, but they showed in this match that they are a very handy side and
can consider themselves a tad unlucky that they didn’t advance.
The overall winners in that contest, cliché though this may
sound, were the people who watched it. It was a fabulous contest, fought with
the intensity of a Derby between two very decent sides. I’m undecided on
whether Brazil will advance onward to win the tournament at this point. Supposedly
their biggest advantage is that they are the host nation, but I’m really
starting to think that this has actually gone over to the point of being a
hindrance now.
The anticipation of the crowd has almost become like a
weight around the Brazilian players necks. Towards the end of the match the
crowd were a bag of nerves and I really got the impression that it was
transferring those nerves onto the Brazilian players. The atmosphere for the
game yesterday wasn’t of a rabid home crowd thirsting for victory and pushing
the home team over the line but rather a desperate crowd fearful of defeat that
put the home side under undue pressure. It will be interesting to see how
Brazil deal with this in the Quarter Finals.
As for Colombia Vs Uruguay, it almost ended up being
somewhat of a non-event in comparison to the pulsating bout that preceded it. Uruguay
fulfilled all of my worries by really just melting under the pressure of the
contest and looking lost without Luis Suarez to provide the necessary x-factor
to get them rolling.
Uruguay looked emotionally frazzled and physically second
best to a Colombian side who have looked excellent during this tournament. You could
make realistic argument that they could now go all the way and win the cup.
James Rodriguez’s goal in the first half was an absolutely wicked strike from
outside the box that fizzed under the crossbar past the despairing Uruguayan
keeper. It was a goal worthy to win the World Cup, but Colombia will have to
settle with it being one of the two goals that booked them a place in the
Quarter Finals.
Uruguay will be forced to return home and reflect on a World
Cup that might have been. Had Suarez kept his cool and not done what he did,
could they have advanced past this Colombian side? To a man, the Colombians
appeared to be the better side, but indeed so did Italy in all honesty, and yet
Uruguay advanced. Suarez’s ability to galvanise his countrymen was sorely
missed in this outing and thus sadly we will not get the re-match of the
unofficial 1950 “Final”.
No Maracanazo repeat for Brazil to worry about this time.
Pity actually. It would have been an excellent examination of whether Brazil
truly had the chops to win this World Cup if they’d had to do battle with the Uruguayans
and face those demons from 64 years ago. It would have proved to be a
fascinating contest for the neutral also. Oh well, no point crying over spilt
Quarter Final I suppose.
We end today by briefly looking at Manchester United’s
purchase of Luke Shaw. The Red Devils have paid over 30 Million smackers to
bring Shaw on board, a fee which I am gladly going to declare as being
ludicrous. This is no comment on Shaw himself, who is a talented young player
that United will no doubt benefit from, but more a comment on just how
ridiculous transfer fees have gotten in the modern game.
I’m old enough to
remember when Alan Shearer, then one of the best strikers in Europe, was
snapped up by Newcastle for 15 Million. This was after he’d scored over 100
goals in the Premier League for Blackburn and had been a key part in bringing
the Premier League trophy to Ewood Park. At the time pundits were decrying how
extravagant the fee was, and this was for one of the best players in the
league. Shaw, though talented and with a lot of potential, is nowhere near as
advanced in his role as Shearer was in his and yet he’s gone for double the
amount.
I shudder to think how much Shearer would go for these days.
I suppose what grates the most is that as transfer fees continue to rise, it
will only contribute to the greed within the football industry and make it
harder for the less moneyed clubs to compete. And indeed, eventually it will
get to the point where ticket prices will rise just so clubs can stay
competitive. And on that depressing note, we’ll end this article
Cheerful sod aren’t I?
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