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The World Cup quarter finals will be here and gone in just two days this upcoming Friday and Saturday, and on Friday night Fortaleza is host to what should be the best game of the four. The Estadio Castelao is likely to be a cool 30 degrees centigrade as a so far superb Colombian side face their first big challenge in the highly fancied, highly pressurised Brazil.
Colombia topped group C, earning them a date with a Uruguay side without any real bite in the last 16. For the first time in this World Cup, Colombia are unlikely to be the side on top throughout the game and may have to put a bigger emphasis on quick countering rather than patient build up play.
Brazil on the other hand did not get such an easy introduction to the knockout stages, and were forced to play at full intensity for 120 minutes by an electric Chile side that can count themselves unlucky to not have progressed. Nevertheless, the fact that Brazil remain in the competition solidifies their threat to anyone they come against, but Colombia offer another different issue for the Selecão, and it has become clear that if either side hope to advance to the semis, their key players are going to have to show up here.
James Rodriguez
The young No 10 has been the player of the tournament so far for plenty of onlookers and for good reason. Five goals in four games makes him a headline-writer in itself. Constantly on the move with spatial awareness to match his technical ability, he is the perfect example of a modern No 10, and this is exactly the worry for Fernandinho and Luiz Gustavo in Brazil’s engine room. His passing maps show his tendency to drop very deep indeed to receive the ball and help it on, seen more than once in the move that led to his volley against Uruguay, which raises the question for Scolari of how to play against him. Should he assign the duty of solely tracking James to one of his players and sacrifice ruling the centre of the park?
Neymar
Neymar’s ability to thrive under immeasurable amounts of pressure has been continually impressive and for the sake of a great game, you would hope this is still the case on Friday night. Despite some levels of contribution from Fred, Oscar and Hulk, there is no getting away from the fact that without Neymar, Brazil simply would not have gotten this far. He presents Colombia’s defence with their first opponent to be afraid of and is another peculiar proposition for his opposition’s manager, in that you almost never find him in the same position twice in a row. His heat map versus Chile showed him not just orchestrating their entire attack but essentially being their entire attack, attacking the Chilean defence from all angles.
Full Backs
Another reason this game is set to be thrilling is the fact that both sides find it difficult to restrain themselves offensively and with Dani Alves, Marcelo, Pablo Armero and Juan Zuniga in the full back spots for the two sides, you have a group of players arguably better at causing mayhem in attack than at being part of a solid back four.
The rampancy of these full backs is typically South American, but it could also be the downfall for one of these teams, especially with Neymar, exempt from tracking back, matched up against Zuniga and Marcelo having to be wary of the rapid Cuadrado eager to catch him out on the break.
The decision for Scolari and Pekerman will be whether it is worth giving their full backs freedom to roam when it can leave them so exposed on the counter. One to definitely keep an eye on is Armero, whose attacking quality shone through as he scored Colombia’s first goal of the World Cup against Greece, but for a long time has been cited as a big liability in Colombia.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of what can decide Brazil-Colombia this Saturday in Fortaleza, and that is precisely why it might be the most anticipated game so far this World Cup.
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