Germany, Brazil in; Neymar, Silva out

CEBU, Philippines - Expectations were high on the France-Germany battle considering that both teams were World Cup winners and have very high footballing pedigrees.  Their match yesterday did not turn out that exceptional, uneventful to say the least. 

Mats Hummels came back from sickness and scored the only goal of the match.  There were some great saves from Manuel Neuer but aside from that, it was all plain football, both sides with almost equal ball possessions.

The Colombia-Brazil match was different.  It was kind of heated and rough added with some inconsistencies from the Spanish referee.  After Thiago Silva scored in the opening minutes of the game, the pace was intense all the way.

In the closing minutes of that game, Neymar was unintentionally got a knee on his back and in the process got a fractured vertebrae, as per hospital reports.  He was carried of the football field on a stretcher in obvious pain.

Team captain Silva likewise cannot play in the match versus Germany for getting a second yellow card.  If you had seen the match, that was a really stupid foul on Colombian goalie David Ospina.

Brazil is in its first World Cup semis appearance since 2002.  Incidentally, it was on the 2002 WC jointly hosted by Korea and Japan where Brazil got their 5th World Cup title, winning over Germany, with Ronaldo shining brightly, winning the Golden Boot with eight goals made. (FREEMAN)