Fifa World Cup 2014 Brazil Column
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Messi to win against the machine / Messi to win against the machine
The moment has come. The moment is to decide who will take the World Cup home—Argentina or Germany? Who will have the final smile— team with a superstar or an all star team?
Goodbye, Big Phil / Goodbye, Big Phil
The Orange humiliation could have been harsher even. Thanks to the pulled-hamstring of Sneijder, Brazilians could get some sort of respite. The margin of defeat could have been more humiliating if not the No. 10 Dutch had to sit out the match.
Fifa gains in game of losers / Fifa gains in game of losers
Here comes a game that no one wants to be involved in. What glory two losers can achieve from a third-placing deciding game? For teams, nothing but the Cup matters. It’s just cruel to ask one of the losing semifinalists to lose again.
Shock bigger than Maracanazo / Shock bigger than Maracanazo
A tragedy, bigger than Maracanazo, has consumed Brazil Wednesday. Brazil were thrown out of the World Cup; a heart-break that the hosts could get over with. But a 7-1 thrashing by the Germans? No way! Brazil would never be able to swallow the insult.
Mexico still Brazil's bogey team
It was because of the outstanding goalkeeping exploit of Guillermo Ochoa the match between the two South American countries ended in a goalless draw. Ochoa could get himself in the right time and at the right position on the goal line to deny Brazil poster-boy Neymar twice and skipper Thiago Silva once.
It was Individual Argentina
It's a huge sigh of global relief. Argentina scarped through in their opening match with a 2-1 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina, a team who were playing for the first time in a World Cup.
Fine hattrick, awful acting
What a brilliant display of marksmanship by German striker Thomas Mueller! His triple strike reflected the typical grit and guile of a German, whose nerve never frays under any situation. He was always cool, composed and almost mechanical.
Can Messi make it his World Cup?
No man on earth will be so closely watched, possibly in many years to come. At least 300 million people will keep their eager eyes on one man. Several hundred high-tech cameras will be out there to capture every move of this short and shy man of 26.
Dutch demolition beyond imagination
The moment has come. The moment is to decide who will take the World Cup home—Argentina or Germany? Who will have the final smile— team with a superstar or an all star team?
Match won, not the hearts
Brazil got off to a winning start to its Hexa Mission for the World Cup. Score in the inaugural match of the 2014 World Cup will read: Brazil 3 - Croatia 1. It's one of the best score in an opening match.
O is ready to roll
Too near, yet too far. Lionel Messi came so close to what was required to surpass Diego Maradona, the football god of his country. But the World Cup, tragically for the Albiceleste, remains elusive for a player considered one of the greatest of all time.