By Ed Valentine and Robbie Butler
In our latest analysis of the World Cup we take a closer look at last night’s game between hosts Brazil and their South American neighbours Colombia. The game was far from a classic. In fact, some argued it was depressing to watch a World Cup Quarter Final with so many cynical fouls. Despite this, only two yellow cards were brandished by the match referee, the first of which arrived just after the hour mark, following the game’s 41st foul!
In total the game contained 54 fouls, the most of the tournament so far. In fact, the next highest is the 51-foul-game between Brazil (again) and Chile in their Second Round. Brazil committed 31 of the 54 fouls (57.4%). This is the highest number of fouls committed by a single team in any World Cup Finals match ever! The second half alone contained a massive 28 fouls. That’s about one every 90 seconds, denying either side the chance to build up any serious momentum. To give you a better idea, the OPTA figure below illustrates where the 28 second half fouls were committed by both teams. So much for the legend of Brazil and Samba Soccer.