As the host country Brazil celebrates the advance of its national team into the World Cup semi-finals, Colombian fans and observers question the obvious leniency of refereeing in the crucial quarterfinals match involving Fernandinho and Colombian attacker James Rodriguez.
Daily Mail said that in Fortaleza, it was clear that Fernandinho was tasked to man-mark Rodriguez and shake him out of his rhythm. It is to note that Rodriguez holds the top number of goals made in the tournament ahead of the match. At every opportunity, Fernandinho thundered into Rodriguez.
In the 14th minute of the game, Manchester City midfielder flew into Rodriguez as he challenged the latter, not minding the ball. Although the referee game Colombia a free-kick for the deed, Fernandinho managed to escaped booking. Ten minutes later, he clattered into the No 10 player again and getting none of the ball. Although the referee had spotted the foul Fernandinho did not get a card, the British tabloid said. On the brink of half-time, Brazil's midfielder enforcer uprooted Rodriguez for the third time.
Fernandinho managed to earn Brazil its 10th foul in its two recent games in the tournament.
The card calls came pelting down later in the second half of the match. Rodriguez, however, earned a yellow card for a late sliding tackle on Brazil. There were also instances where both teams have done stunts that would have warranted bookings, but almost everyone is echoing early sentiments on how poor the refereeing is in the World.
Former World Cup referee and Sportsmail's Graham Poll told Daily Mail about the sloppy World Cup refereeing, "I've been waiting for the weak refereeing to ruin a game and here it is. Brazil looking like Holland from 2010 final. This is not the beautiful game and Spanish ref is doing nothing. He might as well not be there."
Although Rodriguez was able to score a goal for his home country, Colombia's campaign in the World Cup ended as THiago Silva and Julio Cesar scored for Brazil.
