I feared that once the group stages were out of the way, that the drama and entertainment that we'd see so far in the World Cup would dwindle. Four games in to the last sixteen and there's absolutely no sign of that being the case.
Brazil's epic battle with Chile on Saturday tea time may not have been the most aesthetically pleasing game, but the peril that the Selecao put themselves under with a a fairly pedestrian performance against a well organised and bustling Chilean side, made for fascinating viewing.
I wrote earlier in the week about how Scolari's side had finally found their stride in this tournament with their win over Cameroon, but as seems to have been the case in their other games, an initial burst of energy and excitement subsided once they lost a goal. David Luiz, despite probably not getting a touch on Neymar's corner, celebrated like he'd won the World Cup single handedly as Brazil took the lead. It would take until the very last kick of the ball for him to enjoy "his" goal properly.
The home side's intensity dropped markedly after they scored. Whether that was down to Neymar injuring himself early on but not wanting to exit the fray, the expectation of the massive home support weighing massively on their shoulders, or the defiant persistence with Fred and Hulk going forward, who knows?
They were also thwarted, rather unusually, by the referee at timely turns. Howard Webb bucked the trend of officials favouring the hosts, by turning down a first half penalty claim that the watching world would have expected to be given. In the second half he denied Brazil a probable winner, chalking off Hulk's mishit half-volley for a dubious hand ball call. It was upper arm at most, hitting the joint of bicep and tit/pec (depending in your physique), but it was enough of the arm for Webb to wipe it out.
The only man to make Hulk angrier was the Chilean goalie, Claudio Bravo. Time after time, he thwarted the Porto man to keep his side in the game, and did the same in the penalty shoot out.
Said shoot-out was earned through Alexis Sanchez taking advantage of an error by Hulk in the first half. Having failed to control Marcelo's throw in, he was dispossessed by Eduardo Vargas, who teed up the unmarked Sanchez, who found Julio Cesar's bottom right corner to level.
The closing play from the Chileans throughout the game tormented the Brazilians and that Sanchez goal epitomised their World Cup so far, never giving their opponents a minute on the ball, shutting down space as quickly as possible.
Being pegged back should have galvanised the home side to push on, like they did against Cameroon. Instead, they found the Chileans frustrating and stifling, having to resort to long balls forward for the sedate Neymar and ineffectual Fred, before he was hooked. Hulk was the only forward looking lively, but as above, it just wasn't to be his day.
As the game went to extra time, the pressure was all on Brazil. This was evident by their prayers and spirited team talks from their key men. Chile's Arturo Vidal, who had been subbed, showed that his side weren't feeling the intensity just as much, as he chomped away on a choc ice, as his team mates stretched out their cramps.
For many, it would have been unthinkable that the host nation and pre tournament favourites were on the brink of exiting the WC at the second round. Even more unthinkable was Mauricio Pinilla, a man who couldn't cut it in the SPL with Hearts, almost winning the game for Chile at the death of extra time. A counter attack,with Brazil committed forward, saw la Rojas surge forward, Pinilla receiving the final pass of the move as he found space ahead of David Luiz. His rocket of a shot looked goal bound until the last second as it rose just a couple of inches too high and crashed back off bar.
Now at Cagliari, "Pini-gol" could have been the man to break Brazilian hearts. Instead, he's the heart broken former Hearts man who'll be remembered as the lad who should have put Chile through.
Penalties would decide the outcome and the lottery of spot kicks favoured the home side where the officials hadn't in normal time. Julio Cesar was the heroic custodian, saving from both Pinilla and Alexis Sanchez to give Brazil a cushion. David Luiz and Marcelo did their bit to ease the home side's hopes, before Willian missed the target completely and Hulk (what a day, eh) was once more denied by Bravo.
Chile drew themselves level to make the final kick for each side sudden death. Neymar coolly slotted his pen home, leaving Jara to keep his side in the WC. He didn't though,he hit the post, as fireworks and barbecues and car alarms went off all over Brazil. It was a fantastic end to a match that had been dramatic in all the right places and for all the right reasons.
There's a good chance that Chile will be the country that is ram raided in the aftermath of this World Cup, much like Senegal, South Korea and Greece were after their successful tournaments in the last decade. Or Colombia.
With all the talk ahead of Colombia's game with Uruguay centred on Luis Suarez, it was only right that the headlines of the actual match were all about James Rodriguez. The Monaco man has been a revelation in this tournament, and after his opening goal last night, he will be a much sought after signature ahead of the new season. If RVP was pissed that Tim Cahill had stolen his Goal of the Tournament gong, (I don't actually know if he was or if he wasn't. I like to think he was) he would have been livid at James last night.
It's not just the ability and execution shown, but it's the awareness he shows before he even has the ball under control that makes the strike a World Cup classic. As he watches the ball drop towards him, he looks over his shoulder to see where Muslera is in his goal. Swatching that the Uruguay keeper is slightly off his line in the middle of the goal, James controls the ball with one touch on his chest and turns, before unleashing the purest of volleys from 25 yards over the goalie and in off the bar. Majestic. Or Jamestic. (Not convinced about that actually. It was brilliant though.)
If his first goal was all him, his second was down to the excellent work of his team mates. A swift move down the right saw the play spread to the left, Armero hanging a ball up to the back post from the edge of the box. Cuadrado chucked himself head long at the ball to not only keep it in play,but nod it down to James who was in the right place at the right time to blast under Muslera to seal the game for Colombia.
Without Suarez, the Uruguayans did indeed look toothless, ( pun sort of, but not really, intended) Cavani not quite as in sync with Forlan as he looked to be with Suarez beside him. Even Godin wasn't at his inspirational best, as the media circus around "Luisito" looked to have taken its toll. There's no denying that his influence on the Uruguay team is captivating, but their performance without Suarez was as half hearted as the excuse he gave about losing his balance to cause him to bump into Chiellini with his teeth.
The third of the second round games saw Holland take on Mexico in a game that saw the first official water breaks debuted. The afternoon heat in Fortaleza made for an interesting game, as the Dutch struggled with the humidity in the first half, with the Mexicans more adept to dealing with the mid-day sun. Cillessen was the busier of the two goalies in the first half, but not by much, flapping at, but nonetheless keeping out Salcido's boomer from 30 yards.
It was from a slightly shorter distance that Mexico took the lead at the start of the second half. With what looked like all of the Dutch players around him, Giovanni Dos Santos somehow found space to arrow a bouncing shot low in to Cillessen's left hand corner to increase the Latino heat. It was a well taken strike from the former Spurs man and looked until late on to be the goal to send Mexico through. Instead, a double dose of late drama stopped them from being the third of four South American sides to advance to the quarter finals.
Guillermo Ochoa was up to his old tricks in the second half, showing why he is such a highly regarded goalkeeper. A fantastic reaction save to stop a bullet header from de Vrij, somehow pushing the ball on to the post from being crouched on the line, was followed up with a stop at the feet of the slaloming Arjen Robben.
The Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother lookalike seemed intent on keeping his goal intact, much like he did against Brazil. With three minutes left of regulation time though, he fell foul of the kind of Mosby-esque luck that HIMYM's Ted regularly and inappropriately told his kids of.
A corner from the right was met by an orange shirt, but instead of going goalwards it fell to the edge of the box. Having been largely ineffective for most of the tournament thus far, Wesley Sneijder's strode forward to cleanly blast the ball in to the bottom corner. There was no way Ochoa was saving that one.
With extra time looming, only a ridiculous defensive faux pas could find a winner without the need for an added thirty minutes. Rafael Marquez was the man to provide such a mistake. About a minute in to injury time, Robben once more drove in to the box from the right. Having been denied a stone waller in the first half where he was fouled twice in the same tackle, he wasn't to be denied on this occasion, as Marquez, who as skipper should have known better, clipped him at the bye-line, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot.
It was a cruel, cruel blow for the Mexicans, particularly so late on, but that's the cost of silly lunges in the dying embers of a match which saw defeat grabbed from the jaws of victory. Klaas Jan Huntelaar expertly fired the spot kick home, sending Ochoa the wrong way, ultimately setting up a quarter final showdown with the winners of Sunday night's game.
That would be Costa Rica, who survived yet more late drama to come away with the win via penalty kicks, in a game that I didn't see much of, but kept my hopes of winning the work sweep alive for another game at least. From what I did see, the first half was quite drab, enticing me to turn over to watch Kasabian at Glastonbury for a while that included me missing Bryan Ruiz' second half goal.
While not the biggest Kasabian fan in the world, they are pretty good live, and with a line up that included Giorgios Samaras lookalike Serge Pizzorno, Tom Meighan as Krieger from Archer and their bassist the absolute spit of Richard Herring, watching them mug about to Processed Beats, Underdog and Eez-Eh was quite a bit more lively than the match on ITV.
That was until the last half hour. Duarte's red card and the Greek's firing on as many forwards as possible, put the Costa Ricans under the cosh for most of the second half, and inevitably, they were made to rue it in normal time as Sokritis Pastapathopolous knocked in a rebound in the final minute to earn his side extra time. Having made it to this stage thanks to a late, late penalty against the Ivory Coast, Sokritis' strike looked to be an example of the Hellenic gods shining down upon them once more.
Well, for half an hour at least.
After four well hit penalties each, Gekas saw his spot kick saved, before Michael Umana sealed a date with Holland with his winner for Costa Rica.
And boom, that was a lot of words about four games that mean the first side of thequarter final bracket is Colombia v Brazil and Holland v Costa Rica.
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