It was also a round that featured some memorable performances from goal keepers. USA’s Tim Howard, Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas, Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa, Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama, Germany’s Manuel Neuer.
While there were teams who cursed the crossbar, referee and the goal posts that denied them an opportunity to progress to the next round. If not for crossbar it’s Chile who would have replaced Brazil in the quarter finals. Though after watching Brazi getting hammered in the hands of Germany in the semi-finals few of their fans wished that Mauricio Pinilla’s shot should have gone in. Then history wouldn’t have been so cruel to the hosts.
If Greece is the symbol of luck Switzerland is the opposite of it. They dominated the match against Argentina and were just whisker away from taking into the shoot-out. They were trailing in extra time after Di Maria scored for Argentinans. But in the added time of second half of extra time Blerim Dzemaili header from a corner crashed into the post while the rebound went just wide of the goal.
Algeria who progressed to the knock out round for the first time made the champions sweat hard. If not for goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s brilliance playing as the last defender the African side would have had the biggest upset of the world cup.
‘New Generation’ in Brazil World Cup
Every world cup is blessed with a largely unknown player taking the world football into storm with a magnificent performance. In 2010 it was Germany’s Thomas Muller who won the golden boot and played a key role in Germany’s third place finish. While Brazil world cup saw a 5ft 11in, 23 year old making the so called “big names” jealous with his talent and skills – James Rodriguez. 
The moment came in their round of 16 match against Uruguay when James Rodriguez took down the ball on his chest, turning and firing a left-foot volley and that brushed Fernando Muslera’s fingertip and hit the underside of the bar and crashed in.
Much like Thomas Muller he plays as false no:9 and could adapt any position in the attacking front. His pace and ruthlessness in front of goal is unsettled the defenders. He managed to score in all the five games for Colombia and took the golden boot home with golden boot with six goals and two assists.
Immediately after the world cup Real Madrid bought the youngster from Monaco for £63million.
Paul Pgoba who won the young player of the year also impressed with his commanding performances from central midfield for France.
Andre Schurrle was another youngster who played a key part in his team’s success. He was used a super sub for Germans and provided the cross to Goetze that helped them clinch the world cup. The 23 year old scored three goals in the tournament.
Holland’s Memphis Depay, France’s Raphael Varane, Ecuador’s Enner Valencia, Brazil’s Neymar, Costa Rica’s Joel Campbell etc all impressed in their first world cup outin
Conclusion
The teams from both American continents dominated the Brazil world cup. Apart from Ecuador and Honduras rest of the teams from both continents made it to the knock out stage. While the half of European teams qualified didn’t make it to the knockout stage. The 2010 world cup saw two Asian teams progressing but this time around all those featured finished bottom of their respective group.
The amount of goals in this tournament was the highest ever in a tournament. There were 171 goals scored in Brazil with an average 2.7 in a single game. But it was not goals alone. The controversies regarding
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