The last World Cup to look back on in my "World Cups I have watched" litany hardly feels like a memory. Brazil '04 still feels so fresh.
Brazil and their wonderful strike force of Fred, Jo and hulk; David Luiz and his prayers offered to the heavens; Neymar and his crushed vertebrae; and of course Big Phil, the manager given the ominous responsibility of leading one of the weakest ever Brazilian teams ever to glory, at home, in front of expectant home fans, in a country determined to replace the memories of the 1950 national disaster with a new glorious entry in the nation's history books. Oh, if only they new that this was going to be even worse.
But it was more than just about Brazil. There was van Persie's flying header in Holland's incredible opening 5-1 win against the World Champions, Spain; the excitement of watching two other South American contenders, Chile and Colombia; the energy of the Algerians; the surprising run of the Costa Ricans all the way to the quarterfinals; and the match which became my benchmark of turgid-ness: Costa Rica-Greece.
There was lots of colour, noise and a general feeling of everybody in Brazil enjoying the football. And nobody provided a better exhibition of this joy than the Colombians every time they scored.
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