Quarter Match 2: Brazil seal World Cup semi-final spot by beating Colombia

Thiago Silva and David Luiz score for Brazil, Neymar carried off; James Rodriguez late goal fails to save Colombia.

captain Thiago Silva (R) scores the opening goal  match

David Silva's screaming free kick gave Brazil a 2-1 win over Colombia on Friday to seal a World Cup semi-final place but the favourites saw Neymar stretchered off and captain Thiago Silva suspended for the next clash.

Silva bundled over a Neymar corner kick in the seventh minute to put his country ahead.

David Luiz celebrates after scoring his team's second goal

But he earned his second yellow card of the tournament in the second half for barging into Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina and will misss the semi-final against Germany next Tuesday.

Luiz stepped up to smash an unstoppable 30 metre free kick past Ospina in the 78th minute. But Neymar was carried off in agony late in the game after a rough challenge from Colombia defender Juan Camillo Zuniga.

Match 50: James Rodriguez's brilliant double sinks Luis Suarez-less Uruguay

After all the histrionics, a bit of history is made, all the while offering a glimpse of the future. Colombia reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time ever but their star man James Rodriguez looks set to grace such stages many times.

They charge on, while the Uruguayans choke, sent home with Luis Suarez.

Without their own star, Oscar Tabarez’s team just did not have enough. They could not make a statement quite as abrasive as the manager’s pre-game press conference. The intensity of their performance did not match the intensity of their rage.

No-one could match Colombia’s No 10. Rodriguez brought all the mercurial brilliance that Suarez could not, without any of the malice. His capacity for the unpredictable again astounded, and it was all the more admirable because of the predictable pattern the game  set in to before his latest wonder-goal.

Within minutes of kick-off, it was Rodriguez himself who picked the ball up near the Colombian box. As he tried to turn inside, he was met with two granite-hard Uruguayan bodies, one of them only too willing to bounce him onto the turf.

It was always going to be one of Tabarez’s main strategies. Even with Suarez, Uruguay had looked like a conservative team whose primary outlet was to feed the ball to their star and hope he did something stunning. Without him, they were surely going to be even more prepared to just try to stun the opposition.

Although Uruguay did step out once early on, it only led to Juan Zuniga suddenly bursting through the centre before – of course – being taken down. Tabarez’s team were given due warning. They immediately dropped back, and thereafter were only willing to allow Edinson Cavani forward.

That revealed part of the problem. The Paris Saint-Germain striker’s erratic recent form initially continued. When suddenly played through with a superb ball over the top, he could do nothing but get the meekest of touches onto it. That only encouraged Uruguay to dig in even more, and it became clear they were just going to make it as difficult as possible for Colombia to break them down.

So, Rodriguez did something that is hugely difficult to pull off, at least for any regular player. As the ball ricocheted into the air just in front of the Uruguayan 18-yard box, he chested it, turned and – without letting the ball hit the ground – smashed it in off the crossbar with the purest arc of a shot. It was divine, and possibly the goal of the World Cup so far. Rodriguez is certainly one of the players of the World Cup so far.

Their game plan now absolutely wrecked, Uruguay had to come out and attack.

They did try, but did not have much triumph first off. The best they could offer before a half-time was a skied Cavani free-kick and a bit of goalmouth chaos. It was their own defence that soon fell to chaos, though. Colombia back onto the field for the second half apparently determined to blow Uruguay away, to ensure no margin for error.

They first opened up Tabarez’s side with some smooth passing, before simply smashing them with something a little more fundamental. The ball was swung into the box, Juan Cuadrado headed it back, and there was only one outcome. There was also only man worth talking about. Rodriguez slotted the ball home to take his tally for the tournament up to five. He is currently its top scorer.

Uruguay by then had a huge job to do to topple Colombia. Cavani attempted to course through but only encountered impressively driven defenders.

Uruguay just had so little to offer. After all the sound and fury, this was perhaps the deepest consequence of Suarez’s bite. He was always going to be suspended for this match, regardless of every other debate about the ban.

That completely self-enforced absence meant Uruguay could only play one way, with virtually no avenue of attack, and no equivalent response to Rodriguez’s brilliance. They might have done had Suarez actually used his ability rather than his aggression against Italy. Instead, once their limited game plan was rumbled, so were they. They were also out. There was no-one else to blame this time, only Colombian players to praise.

Brazil now await. James Rodriguez has already arrived and may have a long way yet to go.

Match 39: Kagawa blasts Japan’s ‘pathetic’ World Cup exit

Japan's Yuto Nagatomo (5) and Japan's Makoto Hasebe (17) challenge Colombia's Carlos Carbonero 

Japan playmaker Shinji Kagawa slammed the team's World Cup elimination as "pathetic" after Tuesday's 4-1 thrashing by Colombia in their final group game.

“It hurts to go out like this,” the Manchester United player told Japanese television broadcast on Wednesday. “I don't have any other words. I feel responsible and deeply sorry. It's pathetic.”

A three-goal blitz by Colombia in the second half ended Japan's slender hopes of reaching the knockout stage in Brazil after a 2-1 defeat by Ivory Coast and a 0-0 draw with Greece.

Japan’s talismanic midfielder Keisuke Honda, who had declared defiantly that the Asian champions could win the World Cup, cut a forlorn figure after the match.

“It's embarrassing,” he said, pain etched across his face and fighting back tears.

“After I’d said Japan would win the tournament, in the end it finished with just empty talk,” added Honda, who dismissed talk of international retirement.

“I said from the start that I intended on going to the next (tournament). We simply weren't good enough at this World Cup. We've still got a lot to learn. I'm extremely sorry.”

Japan, who reached the last 16 four years ago, flew to Brazil confident of progressing from Group C. They had been set a target of reaching the quarter-finals by the country's FA boss Kuniya Daini.

However, the Blue Samurai unravelled against Ivory Coast and 10-man Greece, who advanced behind group winners Colombia.

“We still have a long way to go,” said right-back Atsuto Uchida, hinting that he might not play again for the national side.

“I've thought about (retiring) but I just hadn't told people about it,” added the 26-year-old defender, one of the few Japan players to emerge with credit from a chastening World Cup campaign.

“I hope we see new heroes play for Japan in the future, kids who are at primary school now.”

Striker Yoshito Okubo, a surprise World Cup pick by Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni, apologised after another wasteful display.

“We knew we had to show some fight,” said Okubo, who squandered point-blank chances against Ivory Coast and Colombia. “I just feel numb right now.”

Match 21: Colombia coasts to knockout stage bu beating Ivory Coast

James Rodriguez scored Colombia's first goal with a thunderous header

Colombia scored twice in six minutes in a lively second half to beat Ivory Coast 2-1 at the World Cup on Thursday and move to the brink of the knockout stage.

James Rodriguez’s powerful header from a corner in the 64th minute was quickly followed by a low finish by substitute Juan Quintero, securing the South American team’s second straight win in Group C in front of a partisan pro-Colombian crowd.

Gervinho reduced the deficit in the 73rd with a superb run and shot inside the near post, but the Ivory Coast could not find an equalizer despite a strong finish.

A point against Japan in its third game will definitely seal qualification for Colombia but it could be secured before that, depending on the result of Japan vs. Greece later Thursday.

Ivory Coast still may need to beat Greece if it is to progress from the group stage for the first time at a World Cup.

There was a sea of yellow shirts throughout the Estadio Nacional as Colombia fans arrived en masse to the Brazilian capital, giving it the feel like of an intimidating away game for the Ivorians. The crowd roared with relief at the final whistle, with their team in touching distance of the second round of the World Cup for only the second time.

All this without star striker Radamel Falcao, who is missing the tournament through injury.

However, at halftime, the noise coming from the stands was not so fierce, with Ivory Coast holding relatively firm – except for a golden chance spurned by Teofilo Gutierrez in the 28th.

Rodriguez’s left-wing cross fell perfectly for Gutierrez just outside the six-yard box, but he miscued his volley and it skewed wide.

With Yaya Toure seemingly anonymous and Didier Drogba again starting on the bench, Ivory Coast threatened only through long-range shots in a first half marked by a comic moment when a large inflatable ball bounced onto the playing surface, causing a brief stoppage.

Juan Cuadrado lit up a cagey opening to the second half by bringing down a long pass, shimmying past his marker and rifling a powerful shot that was tipped onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Boubacar Barry. Inside a stadium named after 1960s World Cup star Mane Garrincha, it was a piece of right-wing trickery that even the Brazil great would have enjoyed.

Drogba entered on the hour, to a mixture of jeers and applause, but he was found wanting in the leadup to Rodriguez’s goal four minutes later, the playmaker beating him to Cuadrado’s corner and heading powerfully into the net for his second goal of the tournament.

The celebrations had hardly died down when Ivory Coast midfielder Serey Die was dispossessed inside his own half, allowing Gutierrez to create a chance for Quintero, who made no mistake with a side-foot finish.

In a frenetic last quarter of the match,  Ivory Coast - driven by Drogba - finished strongly.

Gervinho’s goal was one of the best pieces of individual skill so far at this World Cup, the Roma winger skipping between two defenders, cutting inside a third and beating David Ospina at his near post. But there was to be no equalizer.

Match 5: Colombia crushed Greece by 3-0

SETTING THE BALL ROLLING: Pablo Armero's early strike pushed Greece onto the backfoot right from the word go

Making a grand return to the World Cup after 16 long years, an attacking Colombia recorded its best ever win in the finals as it outclassed Greece 3-0 in a Group C match at Estadio Mineirao, here on Saturday.

A fifth-minute goal by defender Pablo Armero set the ball rolling for Colombia and then Teofilo Gutierrez scored his first World Cup finals goal in the 58th minute to leave Greece with a daunting task to save the game.

Adding insult to injury, young talent James Rodriguez netted in stoppage time for a superb finish to the contest, which Colombia dominated for most part.

The South Americans were missing star striker Radamel Falcao and centre-back Luis Perea from their ranks due to injuries but that did not stop them from playing their brand of game.

Fast game

The Colombians played at a good pace and unsettled Greece with an early goal through Armero. It was a risky ploy to push the full-backs up, but it paid off.

Juan Cuadrado set it up for Colombia as he showed great skills in dribbling past a Greek defender and feeding a low ball in front of the post for Armero, who slammed it in to spark celebration.

It was only the second international goal for the 27-year-old Armero.

Conceding an early goal was a worry for Greece, a side which had only 12 goals from 10 games during qualification.

Greece struggled to find an answer to Colombia’s tactics but gradually made it a contest with several raids. It had the opportunity to get the equaliser in the 28th minute when Dimitrios Salpingidis tackled his marker to send a cross into the area, but Panagiotis Kone’s shot went over the bar.

Three minutes later, Georgios Samaras darted towards the area from the left, got himself into a good position to aim at the post, but his strike was collected safely by Colombia’s goalkeeper David Ospina. Colombia kept the lead intact, going into the break. The second half, after a sedate start, produced scintillating stuff from both sides, but the day belonged to Colombia as it doubled the lead in the 58th minute through centre-half Gutierrez but Greece failed to grab the chances.

James Rodriguez sent the ball into the box, Abel Aguilar flicked it and Gutierrez slotted home the deflection from close range.

Missed chance

Greece did not help its cause by missing the easiest of opportunities to reduce the margin when Vasilis Torosidis volleyed a ball into the area but Theofanis Gekas’s header bounced off the underside of the crossbar.

The game slowed a bit with Greece almost having given up.

In a fantastic finish for Colombia, Juan Cuadrado ran forward into the box after a free-kick. Rodriguez found the ball and slammed a left-footer in to complete the grand win.