GERMANY IN 7TH HEAVEN WITH BRAZIL LEFT HUMILIATED

D. Ray Morton, 9th July 2014.

David Luiz turns on the waterworks after the worst game of his life. Paris St-Germain must be very concerned about having just spent €63m for his services

When making their pre-match predictions for the Brazil vs. Germany semi-final yesterday evening, people talked of Brazil's lack of creativity due to the missing Neymar. The concensus was that Germany would sniff out a narrow victory in a cagey match. The absence of centre-back and captain, Thiago Silva, was something of an afterthought. With Bayern Munich's Dante expected to replace him, it would be fine, they thought, and the main problem would be finding that spark in attack. Luiz Felipe Scolari must have been of the same school of thought and slapped the captain's armband on David Luiz allowing him to have command at the back. What a mistake that turned out to be.

Germany absolutely annihilated the Brazilians in Belo Horizonte, a place-name that will now seem like Hiroshima to native Brazilians. Thomas Müller opened the scoring with easiest of tap-ins from a corner with marking which would have driven a Sunday league manager insane. Bad start.

What happened between the 23rd and 29th minutes of that first half was scarcely believable. Even writing about it now, after the dust has settled, it still seems surreal. The Germans absolutely steamrollered a Brazilian side that had completely lost their discipline. They collapsed quicker than the Twin Towers. Miroslav Klose scored in the 23rd minute, his 16th all-time World Cup goal which saw him beat Ronaldo's record. Now Brazil more than just wilted. They lost the plot entirely. The cheese had slipped off the cracker. Toni Kroos netted two more goals before writers doing their play-by-play reports could catch their breath. Sami Khedira scored another. It was 5-0 and they had not played even half an hour.

Jaws dropped in the stands and the TV cameras flashed towards bawling Brazilian fans suffering a humiliation so great that it made their 1950 World Cup collapse to Uruguay seem like nothing. This was utter, complete devastation. The second half played out like something of a practice match. Manuel Neuer even had to make some decent saves but Brazil were playing like lost souls scattered around the Estádio Mineirão weighted by a sense of doom. As André Schürrle entered the fray, you could tell he was the type of player who would add more damage. Duly he did, scoring in the 69th and 79th minutes, the second goal quite stunning, Brazil left in tatters. Oscar's last minute rebuttal was like giving anaesthetic to someone who had just been put through a meat grinder.

This vile sea creature may be taking his vengeance on mankind after most of the world smirked gleefully at Brazil's demise

How did it all go so wrong? It cannot be blamed on David Luiz alone although he had a true nightmare, the worst game he will ever likely play. Collectively, as soon as the first goal went in, the heads dropped. This has been a strange World Cup for Brazil. Playing in front of their home crowd, the expectation has been massive. Players have routinely shed tears during the playing of the national anthem. Their psychological state bordered on somewhere between fanaticism and obsession. It was too volatile a cocktail without the calming presence of Thiago Silva around to essentially babysit a defence that did not have the bottle for a match of this magnitude.

It is something of a shame that Germany will not even be credited that highly for this unique semi-final triumph. Never has a team enjoyed such a resounding victory at this stage of the World Cup. Though Joachim Löw's side will go up in peoples' estimation, I still do not see them as a team that will tear apart either Argentina or the Netherlands in the final. Indeed, that second semi-final will probably be a world away from what we witnessed last night though making predictions at this stage of an insane World Cup is crazy business.

BRAZIL HAVE A DATE WITH GERMANY BUT AT WHAT COST?

D. Ray Morton, 5th July 2014.

Neymar in agony after being smashed in the lower back by Colombia's Zúñiga

World Cup hosts Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1 in their quarter-final bout last night thanks to a goal each from their centre-backs, Thiago Silva and David Luiz. Luiz's goal was a thing of a beauty, a rocket free-kick from distance but their victory will be overshadowed by the loss of the aforementioned Silva, the captain booked picking up a suspension, and notably Neymar, Brazil's superstar out through injury. They managed to dispatch the Colombians, who many people had fancied, but at quite the cost.

Neymar's injury was a cruel one. Opposition wing-back Juan Camilo Zúñiga smashed the fleet-footed Brazilian into the lower back with a driving knee. Zúñiga may not have been attempting to injure Neymar but he certainly meant to hurt him and his message was duly delivered. The diagnosis is a damaged vertebra with a minimum of a six-week lay-off expected.

They take on the Germans in the semi-final with essentially their two best players missing. Thiago Silva is a vital part of their defence and keeps the often positionally naïve David Luiz in check. All their creativity comes through Neymar and his replacement, whether it be Willian or Bernard, will feel the pressure of having to fill his boots. All of a sudden, Brazil do not seem as threatening any more and Germany can only be delighted at the convenience of all this.

David Luiz, a man obsessed?

RTÉ's Eamon Dunphy described David Luiz's body language as a man "obsessed" after scoring his goal but in all fairness, Luiz deserves praise for what was a genuinely stunning goal, maybe the most spectacular free-kick in World Cup history. Brazil beat a very physical Colombian side and though many have complained about their style of play, it is time to give them some bit of respect now. Colombia had actually been the only consistently impressive team in this tournament, Brazil beat them so what more do people want? It's not as if any of the other remaining teams in the competition have enthralled us. The Dutch had their big win against Spain but have played negatively since. Argentina are a one man team and Belgium have failed to excite despite defending very well.

Next come Germany who put away France in probably the dullest game of the knockout stages so far. Mats Hummels scored the only goal of the game early on and the Germans simply sucked the life out of Didier Deschamps' side to secure a boring-but-effective 1-0 win. Philipp Lahm looked good back in his right full-back position but there is still something of a striker dilemma with Miroslav Klose failing to impress. Perhaps André Schürrle will win a starting spot for the semi-final allowing Thomas Müller to play up front.

Tonight's matches are Argentina vs. Belgium (kick-off at 5pm GMT) and the Netherlands vs. Costa Rica (kick-off 9pm GMT) with the Argentines and Dutch expected to go through. Belgium will provide Messi and co. with a tough challenge, however, though it is hard to see the game underdogs of Costa Rica shocking Louis van Gaal and his troops.

CHELSEA HUMBLED IN PARIS AMIDST GAZE OF THE "PREMFACE" BRIGADE

CHELSEA HUMBLED IN PARIS AMIDST GAZE OF THE "PREMFACE" BRIGADE

D. Ray Morton, 3rd April 2014.

Substitute Javier Pastore reels away in celebration after making it 3-1 in late injury time

José Mourinho and Chelsea were dealt a tough night in Paris last evening thanks to goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi, Javier Pastore and an own goal from David Luiz to cancel out Eden Hazard's penalty for the visitors.

It was a game that lulled at times but this suited Paris St. Germain as a tired-looking Chelsea were not able to play at full intensity. Nemanja Matić was cup-tied after his involvement with Benfica earlier on in this Champions League season, and his calming defensive midfield presence was sorely missed.

The Parisians stunned Mourinho's side early on when Lavezzi was able to pounce on a loose ball in the penalty area and volleyed home beautifully with his left foot. Zlatan Ibrahimović had received all the attention before kick-off but it was his supporting cast of Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani that stole the spotlight on this occasion. The wide attacking duo tormented Chelsea not only with their offensive movement but also by covering back and preventing the visitors from exploiting the flanks.

Ramires diligently covered ground in midfield, pressing Thiago Motta and Marco Verratti with regularity but picked up a yellow card in process which will see him out of the second leg in London next week. PSG have a worry of their own in that Ibrahimović was hauled off with what looked like a hamstring injury. Such strains don't heal that rapidly and there's a good chance he'll miss next week's encounter also. Such as the strength of their squad however, they should be able to cope. Brazilian starlet Lucas Moura came on during the second half and troubled Chelsea with his elusive dribbling skills.

Chelsea's equaliser was somewhat fortuitous. Oscar went down in the penalty area under an awkward challenge from compatriot Thiago Silva. Such was the centre half's positioning that the referee cannot be blamed for awarding the spot-kick although replays seemed to indicate that Silva had at least gotten a bit of the ball. Hazard buried the penalty and that was Chelsea's last shot on target for the evening. After only 28 minutes.

Chelsea had opted for a "strikerless" formation with André Schürrle up front on his own, a tactic only used twice this season, once against Bayern Munich in the European Super Cup and again against Manchester United early on in the campaign where a 0-0 result seemed solid at the time. Here, it worked to an extent. With Schürrle dropping into the midfield, Motta and Verratti found themselves pressured more often than they would in an average Ligue 1 match. It was Mourinho's decision to replace the German with Fernando Torres in the second half where things began to unravel.

Sky Sports' panel came up with the ludicrous conclusion that Chelsea were in complete control by half-time. Perhaps they were, if control means aimlessly pressing to the point of exhaustion and playing into the hands of a highly technical home side with many individuals capable of coming up with a match-winning moment of flair. The lead goal didn't require any flair, however. The ticking defensive time bomb that is David Luiz couldn't get the ball out of his feet from Lavezzi's whipped free-kick and ended up putting it in his own net. It became a calamitous night for Luiz after being one of Chelsea's better players in the first half.

The visitors looked tired but seemed content to take a 2-1 defeat back home. That was until substitute Javier Pastore came up with a bit of magic late on in injury time. Picking the ball up on the right flank, he managed to slip into the Chelsea penalty area near the by-line, skimmed Frank Lampard and smashed home past Petr Čech from a narrow angle. That little bit of magic made it 3-1 and makes next week's proposition much harder for an infuriated Mourinho.

Mourinho described PSG's third goal as "ridiculous"

He dubbed the third goal as "ridiculous" and didn't write off their second leg prospects but described it as "a difficult job, not impossible". Clearly dissatisfied at Fernando Torres' contribution he thought the substitution would give them more depth: "a bit more". The Spanish club record signing is clearly in the doghouse and there's very little chance he'll remain in Mourinho's first-team squad next season.

The Sky trio of Jamie Redknapp, Jamie Carragher and Glenn Hoddle seemed perplexed at what they had just seen. In unison, thinking Chelsea were "in control" at half-time, they didn't offer any real explanation as to how Chelsea had just been outclassed. Hoddle even went as far as suggesting that PSG were weak at the back despite having Brazil's captain and arguably the world's best defender in Thiago Silva. Classic "premface" opinion again on display.

The second leg should remain a decent spectacle and Chelsea are not necessarily out. Lavezzi and Cavani will remember from their time at Napoli that Chelsea are capable of overturning a 3-1 first leg defeat but considering PSG's overall quality, it's a much bigger ask this time.