Don’t look now, but the Brazilians have seemingly rediscovered their samba magic. After limping to two scoreless draws in their first two matches against South Africa and Iraq, the hosts and tournament favorites finally turned on the style by drubbing Denmark, 4-0, in their final group game.
They successfully carried over that fine form to the quarterfinals, as they ousted South American neighbors Colombia, 2-0. Superstar striker Neymar, who was relatively silent in their first couple games, finally came good with a brilliant free kick to give his team the lead.
With the two Gabriels (Barbosa and Jesus), Neymar, and Luan, who has scored in each of the last two games, the Brazilians easily have the superior firepower over Honduras. The Hondurans also don’t have the greatest defense, so Brazil should at the very least get some decent opportunities in front of goal.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian defense will be a formidable unit to crack. The hosts have yet to allow a single goal in four matches thus far.
Honduras has done it again. The small Caribbean country was a surprise quarterfinalist in the 2012 Olympics, and it’s now a surprise semifinalist in this year’s games after edging out South Korea, 1-0, in the quarters. A lone goal from Elis – his second goal of the tournament – was enough to see them through.
The Hondurans have a handy habit of getting ahead. They’ve scored the first goal in all four of their games thus far. However, they couldn’t hold onto a first-minute lead in their match against Portugal as they fell to a 2-1 defeat. They also gave up a heart-breaking stoppage time equalizer against Argentina which forced a 1-1 draw.
Their defense is a bit of an issue in this respect. Their willingness to go out and attack often exposes that back line. But they dialed their aggressiveness down a bit against a very dangerous South Korean attack, which helped them get their first clean sheet of the tournament. Expect them to adopt a similarly cautious approach in order to avoid getting caught out by the in-form Brazilians.
Writer’s Prediction
Brazil ends Honduras’ Cinderella run as the hosts run out 3-0 winners.
