Brazil and Colombia faced off in front of a sold-out, record breaking crowd in Miami’s Sun Life stadium as both of the team’s desire for revenge after disappointing World Cups in Brazil showed. The crowd of 73,429 broke records both in Sun Life and the state of Florida for the largest soccer crowd and was enthusiastic throughout the game. Both teams desire to win was evident, with a total of seven yellow cards given as well as one red card.
The first half saw Colombia struggle until well into the 30th minute with lack of possessions and few shots on goal coming mostly from fast-breaks. Colombia played great defense, with the back four made of Camilo Zuniga, Cristian Zapata, Carlos Valdes and Pablo Armero breaking up the majority of Brazil’s chances in the box along with goalie David Ospina who made some particularly good saves.
Brazil controlled the tempo but were unable to capitalize, the only shot that made it in the goal was ruled offside and some fumbled passing in the box by Brazil left both teams 0-0 after the first half after a total of five yellow cards were given out.
Colombia started off the second half quickly, with a shot by Rodriguez in the beginning minutes deflected by Brazil’s defense going wide right, after the early spark Colombia continued to make the same mistakes on offense during the second half.
After receiving his first card in the 13th minute a red card was given to Juan Cuadrado after a foul on Neymar from outside the box, taking Colombia down to 10 men in the 50th minute. Despite being down Colombia continued to play good defense, the penalty taken after the red card was given was knocked away by Ospina but was almost tapped in however Colombia’s defense was there to scramble the ball away saving them from a Brazil goal.
Brazil continued to charge at Colombia’s goal and for a few minutes the game seemed to be played using half the field, with Brazil’s back-line sitting in midfield and continuing to feed the ball to the offense. Colombia took the ball to Brazil’s side of the field and Falcao came on in the 76th minute for Rodriguez, changing the atmosphere of the game completely with chants of “Tigre!” following his entrance.
As the game neared the final 10 minutes, still 0-0 both teams became more desperate for a goal. The only goal of the game came in the 82nd minute came from Neymar after a free kick taken outside the box curved just into the top right of the goal, out of Ospina’s reach, making the game 1-0. Brazil kept up their easy possession during the remaining 10 minutes, remaining mostly in Colombia’s side of the field despite a last minute attempt by Colombia where Falcao sent a header to Brazil’s goal but were unable to score on the corner kick.
Colombia were unable to make much of an impact on offense throughout the night with only seven total shots on goal, and were regularly disrupted by Brazil’s back line. However, Colombia’s defense deserves recognition as the midfield and back four saved the majority of Brazil’s 13 shots on goal as well as an excellent performance by Ospina kept the goals allowed to only one.
