You would think so, with the sort of cathartic celebrations that followed Neymar Jr’s stroke of individual brilliance. More to the point, can anyone not called Howard Webb officiate a Colombia Brazil match? You have to be Otto Von Bismarck drawing out his pistol to keep tempers in check. Juan Cuadrado, Colombia’s best player, already on a booking, was gone early in the second half after Neymar milked his clip, forcing Colombia onto the backfoot. One lost track of the number of bookings and the bone crunching tackles. Mostly Neymar, rolling around spectacularly but the slippery Cuadrado too, as Brazil lavished their attention on him once James Rodriguez faded away. A reprise of their industrial strength World Cup encounter, once again, an embattled referee clearly not up to the challenge.
Dunga’s return to the international arena is problematic. His mantra is do no harm first. His favourite player was Felipe Melo, picking up a red card against the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup after his Neanderthal shtick wore thin. Philip Coutinho, probably the Seleccao’s cleverest and most inventive midfielder overlooked by Big Phil Scolari this World Cup did finally get a look but only in the 72nd minute. Coutinho like the similarly talented Elano before him, might suffer the same fate, the crime of being blue blooded. The CBF, unfortunately believes recycling coaches is a winning ticket when the problem is 10 individuals and Neymar. It’s also called madness. But who cares to fine tune a point when you can score a free kick like the Barca man?
The other big event was the introduction of Radamel Falcao, coming on late and in minutes, with a chance to send Colombian and Man Utd fans into delirium. But the cross hung up late, Maicon got close, enough to distract into ballooning his header tamely over the crossbar. The match ended with Colombia pressing on in the last few minutes. When the whistle blew with an almost anticlimactic sound, Jose Pekerman looked unbelieving. The battle coming to an end, the war just beginning. This youthful Colombia side has work to do but Pekerman, spending his lifetime in the trenches of U20 football, guiding the Argentinians to three victories, might know a few things getting the best out of them.
For Arsenal fans, David Ospina’s performance was encouraging with a few caveats. He seems to have very good reflexes but his decision making remains questionable. If we roll tape, Ospina positioned himself too far to his right, for Neymar’s free kick, leaving a nice healthy sized gap to the near post. Neymar was like a kid in a toy shop eyeballing the Guardians of the Galaxy Lego set when he spotted that piece of real estate. Likewise, Ospina got caught out by Tardelli in the early minutes not reading the situation and only a last ditch limbs akimbo intervention saved Colombia. That rolled ankle looked painful but Ospina shrugged it off encouragingly.
By the way, is it just me, but did Falcao’s sweaty Colombia jersey clinging onto his not insubstantial pecs, transform him into Superman? On that note, lets end.
Full match: