Looking to avenge the result of the 1950 World Cup when it hosted the
tournament and lost in the final, Brazil has been handed a difficult
route to the promise land in 2014.
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After being pushed all the way to penalties in the round of 16 by a
stout Chilean team, Brazil must now face a Colombia side that has
emerged as one of the front-runners to win the competition.
Listen to Brazil vs. Colombia LIVE today at 4pm et/1pm pt on TSN Radio
1050 Toronto, TSN 690 Montreal, TSN 1200 Ottawa and TEAM Vancouver 1410.
While Brazil has the star power of Neymar, David Luiz and Oscar, Jose
Pekerman is hoping that Colombias team-first approach can carry the
nation to the semifinals, where it would face either France or Germany.
"Sometimes a team with a lot of potential, if they dont find the result
and they need to win, they cant play so brilliantly," Pekerman said of
Brazil after beating Uruguay in the round of 16. "So the competition
becomes interesting because a team with less individual stars can
disturb the balance of the other team."
Of course, Colombia is not void of stars itself. James Rodriguez has
been the toast of the tournament thus far, producing stunning bits of
play and coming up with five goals to sit atop the race for the Golden
Boot.
Brazil, though, has not hit its top gear just yet, and the host nation
is looking forward to Fridays continental battle.
"Theres no doubt that being continental rivals has a huge impact,"
Brazil defender Dani Alves told FIFAs official website. "Emotionally,
theyre very tough games, because unlike European nations, we come up
against each other all the time - in the Copa America, in World Cup
qualifying.
"In technical terms too, its a different style of football, though that
side of things is changing. Football has evolved a lot and nearly all
the best South American players are in Europe. Thats made the national
teams here get even better and stronger. The games are still intense,
with that South American flavor, but with more players used to always
playing at the very highest level."
The Brazilians see themselves as a team of destiny, and while many of
the teams supporters are disappointed in the lack of beautiful football
on display, Neymar has stressed that advancing beyond each round is
whats truly important.
"You cant always enjoy yourself and win 4-0 or 5-0," the Barcelona
forward said in a press conference. "Football nowadays is so difficult,
so even, that the team who is most committed on the pitch ends up
winning. I dont want a show. Thats the last thing we are trying to do.
We are not necessarily here to produce a spectacle. We are here to run
to the end, until we are tired, and come out as winners.
"I would be happy to do nothing in this game if Brazil won 1-0. That
would be marvelous."
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. Here at TSN.ca we will take a look back at the season by bringing
together a panel of experts to help pick the best 50 players of the
season.
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.C. Lions 35-14, was named the CFLs offensive player of the week
Tuesday.
Sheets recorded his ninth 100-yard rushing performance of the season to
tie the Riders club record.The Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings
combined for 32 shots on goal, yet both won Monday night. Notes on
Crosby, Fleury, Diaz, Gaborik, Schultz and more.
FLEURY SHUTS OUT RANGERS, AGAIN
Sidney Crosbys first goal of the postseason was the game-winner and
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 35 New York Rangers shots he faced, giving
the Pittsburgh Penguins a 2-0 win in Game Three and a 2-1 lead in the
series.
Crosby played 16:54, a threshold that he surpassed in 86 of 88 previous
games this season and only had one shot on goal, but it found the back
of the net, going five-hole on Henrik Lundqvist after being sent in on a
partial breakaway by a Robert Bortuzzo pass. Crosbys goal gives him
seven points (1 G, 6 A) in nine playoff games, which is below his
standard, but getting off the goose-egg ought to alleviate some
pressure.
The Penguins other goal was a gift for Jussi Jokinen, who picked up an
errant Rangers pass for a breakaway as he stepped out of the penalty
box. Jokinen now has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the playoffs and, with
four shots on goal, was the only Penguin with more than two shots on
goal in the game.
Back-to-back shutouts sure changes the view on the playoff performance
of Fleury, who had allowed at least three goals in six of his first
seven games in the playoffs, but hes stopped all 57 shots that the
Rangers have sent his way in the last two nights. His save percentage is
up to .919 for this postseason.
While the Rangers held a possession advantage by games end, they gained
that advantage on their punchless power play (now 0-for-30 in the past
eight games) and once the Penguins had built their 2-0 lead. Before that
point, the Penguins had 24 5-on-5 shot attempts for and 23 against
(51.1%). After that, the Rangers held a 24-9 (72.7%) edge, but those are
empty possession calories, a nature of the way the game is played by
teams holding a multi-goal lead.
The player sending the most shots toward the Pittsburgh net for the
Rangers was D Raphael Diaz, who had six shots on goal and nine shot
attempts in his first game of the postseason. Next was RW Rick Nash, who
had eight shot attempts, but is still looking for his first playoff
goal this year. Nash has two goals in 25 career playoff games.
The schedule has been ridiculous for the Rangers, who have played five
games in seven days, but tthey had better hope that getting back on a
more normal schedule will be enough for them to solve a suddenly-hot
Marc-Andre Fleury.
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KINGS HOLD ON TO BEAT DUCKS
Jonathan Quick stopped 36 of 37 shots while Marian Gaborik and
Alec Martinez scored first-period goals, then the Los Angeles Kings held
on (adding an empty-netter by Dwight King) to beat the Anaheim Ducks
3-1, taking a 2-0 series lead.
Gaborik scored his playoff-leading sixth goal just 34 seconds into the
game, after scoring the last two goals of Game One, and the Kings were
off and running.
Martinez, who finished the year strong (7 G, 8 A in 22 GP after the
Olympics) now has two goals and five points in nine playoff games.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the night for Los Angeles was that D
Jeff Schultz, playing with Robyn Regehr and Willie Mitchell injured,
logged 19:58 of ice time, ranking fourth on the Kings blueline behind
Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin and Slava Voynov. That might not seem like
such a big deal -- someone had to play those minutes -- but Schultz
didnt play a game in the NHL this season. He had 13 points (2 G, 11 A)
and was plus-10 in 67 AHL games. Schultz was minus-10 in Corsi for Game
Two but that ice time played into that deficit.
Anaheims goal came on the power play from LW Patrick Maroon, their
third-leading playoff scorer (2 G, 4 A, 8 GP), behind Ryan Getzlaf and
Corey Perry.
The Ducks were dominating the possession game, but couldnt solve Quick
and now head to Staples Center down two games in the series. With the
ice tilted so heavily in Anaheims favour, the defence pairing of
Ben Lovejoy and Cam Fowler was on for better than 80% of the 5-on-5 shot
attempts.
Anaheim was seven seconds away from winning Game One and carried the
play in Game Two, yet still lost, so while they are facing a daunting
task to come back, they have been able to handle the puck possession
game against a Kings team that was the leagues best in that respect
during the regular season. It may not do them much good, but its more
encouraging than getting beaten from pillar-to-post in the first couple
games.
Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on
Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN
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