Host Brazil in its HEXA mission moved one step closer smarting out their second continental challenger Colombia 2-1 , Cannot say that Brazil  played that beautiful Brazilian brand of Football  but what they played was effective enough to win and progressed to semifinal.

Thiago Silva scored early in the first half and David Luiz with a brilliant free kick in the second half doubled the margin. Colombia which impressed so much in their earlier matches was hardly allowed to play their own game. 

James Rodriguez however reduced the margin converting the penalty kick, which they got when Cesar brought down substitute Bacca with an unfair challenge. Brazil will now play Germany in the semifinal. James Rodriguez reduced the margin converting the penalty kick 2-1. Roidriguez with 6 goals is now two goals clear from Messi, Neymar and Mueller and stands a fair chance of winning the golden boot.

When Brazil plays Soccer in world stage anywhere in the planet, plenty of expectations go with them. Perhaps Brazil in the only team for which anything other than a win is always considered as major failure. They have to win and win handsomely.

The expectation of this match was no different. Brazil on a HEXA mission required the win in style to send strong signal to their other challengers in deeper stage of the tournament. With five out of the seven steps scaled Brazil went even closer to their dream heaven. Colombia unfortunately could not or rather was not allowed to play their own game. They neither they had a plan B to outsmart their much superior opponent and ultimately failed to create the history. 

Brazil and Colombia entered the match with totally different mindsets. Brazil was in a state of uneasiness after a more difficult start than expected to the tournament in its own territory. Colombia was upbeat after convincing performances and four straight wins.

While the hosts had a nerve wrecking win against Chile in a penalty shootout to avoid elimination in the second round, the Colombians had a convincing win over Uruguay to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

The Selecao did not lose a match against its South American rival since a world cup qualifier in 2000.They have met 25 times in all with Brazil winning 15 and losing only 2 matches to Colombia. The last four matches against the two sides were dawn.Los Cafeteros were unbeaten since their last 2-0 defeat to Uruguay in September 2013.

The match with Chile was one of Brazil's poorest performances in the tournament. Brazil looked in rhythm only in the first half an hour of the match. After that, it was Chile controlling the pace of the match. Chile dominated the second half and even the extra-time, Neymar, Fred and Oscar had one of their worst days on the field. If Julio Cesar did not have a great day on the net during the penalty shoot-out, millions of fans all over the planet would have had heartbreak. It was a loud wakeup call. Scolari's young brigade became aware of their vulnerability. 

Colombia is one of the inform side of the tournament which won all its matches of the tournament so far. It had an emphatic victory over Uruguay in the group 16 match. . Such a clear dominance was exceptional especially in the "Round of 16" as most of the matches have been evenly poised. Colombia was the only winner at this stage which looked quite convincing.  

First Half:

 The two teams have yellow color. Brazil got the home team adavantage .Colombia was wearing red. The last time they did that in the World Cup was in 1990, when Freddy Rincon scored that blinder against West Germany.

The highly charged emotional encounter kicked off with Brazil looking for a safe passage to Semifinals in front of a sea of yellow in the stadium egging them on.

Columbia had among other things remembrance of their unfortunate hero Escobar killed on return home after conceding a suicide goal in a world cup match.  Brazil.  started with all guns blazing right from the start. Silky Neymar started flying like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. His strong run with the ball through the center caught Columbian defence rattled.

A surge of Brazilian attacks led to an early goal.  Brazil earned a corner in the 6 th minute. Corner from the left, everyone missed the flight, and Thiago Silva at the back stick came with a free run. Sanchez lost his man!  Silva scored a soft goal, he bundled it in off his shin, but at this stage, who cared?

Brazil in the lead 1-0. Goal matters and Brazil got it.The goal let off thunderous roar which possibly could be heard from other planet .Brazil kept the pressure on searching for a second goal. On the 17th Minute out of nothing, Colombia fashioned a chance for Brazil. Cuadrado tried to dribble out of defence, made a total hash of it, Hulk got to the corner of the six yard box, beat Guarin and crossed. 

Circus time in the Colombian defence, and Armero only just scrambled clear as Luiz looked to pounce. The very next minute witnessed yet another excellent move from Brazil, Neymar engineered the move and Hulk stormed forward into the box. He could not hit it that well, and the keeper punched out. 

Oscar pumped on the rebound which the keeper saved. The match witnessed two decent stops in as many seconds. The rest of the first half showed little activities of note. Brazil kept the pressure going not allowing Columbia to develop their rhyme at all. Their moves were confronted early before it could present their goal scorer James Rodríguez any opportunity to strike. Cesar enjoyed almost a holiday under the bar in the first 45 minutes.. Brazil looked like scoring the second goal.

The seventh minute goal of Thiago Silva separated sides leaving Columbia lot to do in the second half. Brazil hardly allowed any space for quick moving Columbians in counter attacks. Columbia could be considering them lucky that Brazil did not score two or three goals from opportunities they created.

Columbia was kept confined in their own territory for most of the first half. First Half witnessed hectic stuff.  Brazil managed to score a goal early and hold on. Colombia looked like headless chickens.  There were lots of physical elements in the match.  Somehow the referee was clinging on by his fingernails.

Second Half:

As the match wore on more on more physical football were on show. The beauty of quality football was hardly on display. Colombia started their efforts more intensely after 55th minute but again their attacks lacked planning. The free flowing Brazilian attacks were also not on show during over the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Poor refereeing. Some rough tackles from either side deserved yellow cards which referee avoided. Brazil scored its second goal from a sweetly struck free kick by David Luiz. In the 69 th Minute . Dangerous looking Hulk was brought down in business area just outside Columbian penalty box (2-0).

 It was a brilliant, brilliant free kick from Luiz which Columbian goal keeper could only look helplessly as it entered the goal. Colombia reduced the margin through James Rodriguez converting the penalty in the 70 th minute. Colombia. James slipped it through, substitute Bacca was onto it but Julio Cesar brought him down with a wild challenge.

Referee awarded the penalty. Rodriguez scored his sixth goal making it 2-1.Neymar possibly was carrying injury into the match was injured and was stretchered off triggering concern for the Brazilians.

Columbia lost and failed to create history. Their dream run stopped at quarter final. Host Brazil  knocked out its South American known contestant and moved to Semi Final  against Germany. 

Brazil: Julio César , David Luiz, Maicon, Marcelo, Thiago Silva, Hulk, Fernandinho, Neymar, Oscar, Paulinho and Fred

Colombia: David Ospina ,Juan Zuñiga,Mario Yepes, Cristian Zapata, Pablo Armero, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado,Víctor Ibarbo, Carlos Sánchez, James Rodríguez, Fredy Guarín and Teófilo Gutiérrez

BDST: 0425 HRS, JULY 5, 2014