BRAZIL 2-1 COLOMBIA (Thiago Silva 7", David Luiz 68"; Rodriguez [pen] 78")
PLAYER RATINGS:
Julio Cesar – 7 – Scolari"s trusted man gave away a late penalty but his distribution was reliable throughout.
Maicon – 6.5 – Brought into the side at the expense of Dani Alves, the AS Roma defender had a good first half before fading.
Marcelo – 6.5- Like his fellow wing back, began the game well before tiring near the end. A positive attacking outlet as always.
Thiago Silva – 8 – Captain"s performance that included the opening goal. Will be a huge loss in the next game with Germany, which he misses through suspension.
David Luiz – 9 – Superb 90 minutes from the free kick hero. His dead ball accuracy and power almost took the game away from Colombia and he showed defensive intelligence the entire game.
Fernandinho – 6 – A workmanlike performance from the Manchester City man, who did Luiz Gustavo"s job to the best of his ability.
Paulinho – 6 – Brought back into the team because of Gustavo"s suspension, the tottenham midfielder had probably his best outing of the competition but was still largely anonymous as the game wore on
Hulk – 7 – Most impressive game of the World Cup for Hulk, who almost scored on a couple of occasions and did what he does best, running at defenders with brute pace and power.
Oscar – 6.5 – The player that started the tournament so well has gone off the boil in the past few games but showed a better level of performance against Colombia with more of an involvement in attacks.
Neymar – 6.5 – Barcelona man had his quietest game so far, but still managed to win several free kicks and make some telling contributions in the final third.
Fred – 5 – Perhaps more effort in this game, but the Fluminense man is now getting a reputation as being more than dispensible to this Brazil team, for both ability and work-rate.
Substitutes
Ramires – Came on after 83 minutes and effectively helped stem the Colombian tide.
Hernanes – Like his fellow subs, he assisted in soaking up pressure as the hosts tried to see out the game.
Henrique – A cameo role for the defender, replacing Neymar in the latter stages.
