In case you haven't been told yet, this World Cup is one of the best ever. While the goals may have dried up in the knockout stages, the excitement hasn't stopped. Brazil 2014 has been barmy and brilliant, and will go down as the tournament of a generation.
But when the dust is settled, when all we have left of Brazil 2014 is a dog-eared Panini sticker book and a wall chart completed with different shades of biro, what will we really remember? Here are 10 moments which will live long in the memory.
1) The Netherlands wallop Spain 5-1.
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The tournament may have started the night before, but this is when the madness really began. The two heavyweights in Group B met on a sticky night in Salvador for a recreation of the 2010 final, only it didn’t quite pan out in the same fashion as Spain’s 1-0 victory four years ago. Louis Van Gaal’s Dutch side saw the script, chewed it up, spat it out and set fire to it. Spain took an early lead but Robin van Persie’s remarkable flying header sparked a frightening drubbing. It was ruthless, incisive stuff from the Netherlands as their new brand of Total Football was too good and too powerful for Spain’s laboured tiki-taka. The world champions had been hammered, their crown trampled on. Welcome to Brazil 2014, nobody is safe here.
2) Luis Suarez bites Georgio Chiellini.
Italy and Uruguay are playing each other in their final Group D game with both sides needing a win to guarantee qualification to the last 16. In the penalty area Suarez and Chiellini have a coming together and the Liverpool striker is writhing around on the floor. Nothing untoward here. But wait a second, did he? Surely not? He can’t have . . . He did. Suarez had a nibble of an opposition player for the third time in his career.
The images spread like wildfire and Suarez was condemned around the world - apart from in Uruguay. Strong action from Fifa followed and Suarez received a four-month ban from all football. Whatever you think about him and what he did, it's a moment of World Cup infamy which will never be forgotten.
3) Tim Cahill’s goal against the Netherlands.
Australia had just been cut to ribbons by Arjen Robben and it looked like they were heading the same way as Spain. Ryan McGowan lofted a hopeful ball into the Dutch area towards the reliable head of Tim Cahill. BOOM. Cahill didn’t use his head but the laces on his left boot instead, and sent an absolute rocket past Cillessen, bar down and back of the net. It’s a volley which will be shown on highlight reels for years to come. Marco Van Basten eat your heart out.
4) Ghana implode off the field.
Algeria and Nigeria aside, the African teams at this World Cup didn’t do much to enhance the continent’s footballing reputation and Pele’s not getting any closer to his African tournament winner. Cameroon were a joke, finishing bottom of their group while Benoit Assou-Ekotto tried to throttle his team-mates and Alex Song gave Mario Mandzukic the people’s elbow. It was Ghana who hit the headlines though, as the squad threatened to boycott their final group game against Portugal if they weren’t given their tournament bonuses. Star players Kevin Prince-Boateng and Sulley Muntari were sent home from Brazil, and after the Ghanaian FA caved in centre half John Boye was pictured kissing his massive wad of cash.
5) James Rodriguez scores the opener against Uruguay.
A star was born in Brazil. Colombia and James Rodriguez were one of the highlights of the tournament, the most exciting team and the most exciting player. Nothing sums up the brilliance of both better than Rodriguez’s opening goal in the second round against Uruguay. On the edge he takes the ball on his chest, spins and volleys it off the bar and in. It was daring, it was scintillating, it was executed to perfection. Los Cafeteros meant serious business, and so did the boy Rodriguez.
6) Jermaine Jones goal v Portugal.
This was another great strike, but it’s included not because of its quality but because of its symbolism. Brazil 2014 was the World Cup where America finally ‘got’ football. The whole nation were behind the ‘USMNT’, and Jürgen Klinsmann’s side’s heroics in the second round against Belgium were enough to get neutrals backing America. They may not be afforded the same support in the future if they can complete their transition from laughable underdogs to legitimate contenders. USA! USA! USA!
7) Brazil beat Chile 3-2 on penalties.
You’re the host nation of the World Cup. You’re heading to a penalty shoot-out in the second round after being the bar’s width away from getting knocked out. You win, ecstasy. You lose, you’ve let down an entire nation. How’s your nerve? The pressure on the Brazil players in their shoot-out against Chile must have been ridiculous. Chile had comfortably matched them for 90 minutes and would have been well worth a spot in the quarters. But the Brazilians held their nerve, just, and nobody showed just how big the hosts’ huevos were more than Neymar, slotting his penalty to keep a nation’s dreams alive.
8) Neymar is clobbered by Juan Zuniga and ruled out of the World Cup.
In their quarter-final against Colombia, Brazil were reduced to bully boy tactics to see off Los Cafeteros and they paid the price. In the second half Zuniga challenged World Cup poster boy Neymar and crashed into his back with his knee cap. Neymar lay prone with a broken vertebra, and later said he couldn’t feel his legs after the incident. A nation held its breath as he was stretchered off and news filtered out after the game he would miss the rest of the tournament. Brazil were through, but if they wanted to lift the trophy they would have to do it without their star man.
9) A Costa Rican fairytale.
When the groups for the World Cup were drawn the talk surrounding Group D was of who would qualify out of England, Italy and Uruguay. Costa Rica weren’t even in the picture. But in one of the tournament’s most remarkable stories they finished top, beating Uruguay and Italy and comfortably holding England as they cruised through to the last 16. A penalty shoot-out win against Greece followed, and then they took the Netherlands to another shoot-out after everybody had written them off again. It was a remarkable, brilliant run, and one which will live long in the memory.
10) Algeria beat South Korea 4-2.
Like Costa Rica, Algeria weren’t given much hope before the tournament started. Nobody thought they’d progress from a relatively easy group containing Belgium, South Korea and Russia, but progress they did. The Desert Foxes tore Korea to shreds in Porto Alegre, and the victory left them needing a point against Russia to make history and qualify for the knock-outs for the first ever time. They drew 1-1 with Fabio Capello’s side and then took Germany to extra time in the last 16. Coach Vahid Halihodzic was the stony-faced antithesis of Algeria’s manic support, but he engineered the nation’s best ever World Cup run and had his side playing some exhilarating football.
