Just hours after FIFA announced it would not take any action against Colombia defender Juan Camilo Zuniga for his devastating challenge on Neymar, Germany coach Joachim Loew flipped matters in defence of the defeated side by describing Brazil’s attacking strategies as “brutal.”
The German, who is busy preparing his side for their highly-anticipated semi final spectacle against the Brazilians tonight, threw in his two penny’s-worth against their quarter-final opponents Colombia despite the attack which saw the winners’ star player stretched off the pitch on Friday with a broken vertebra.
Loew also urged the referee of tonight’s game, Mexican Marco Rodriguez, to be super vigilant and watchful of their antics:
“I hope the referee Rodriguez will clamp down, because I have seen in the last few matches that Brazil’s physical energy is going beyond of what we see in Europe,” he said.
“There, 22 players would not have finished the (Colombia) game because there were some really brutal challenges.
“The way in which players were physically blocked was completely exaggerated and we will need to see that these things are stopped in this game.”
Loew’s major concern is key creative players being targeted. Those who are deemed dangerous sources of passing and scoring are singled by the opposition, who attack with the intent of taking them out of the game – the very thing that occurred in the case of Neymar.
He said: “If they are allowed (to get away with it) then we will have no Neymars, Götzes, Ozils or any other players of that type; we will have only players who go out and try to destroy the play.”