Brazil, chasing a sixth world title, are still reeling from Neymar's injury in their quarter-final win over Colombia, and the entire nation is holding its breath and hoping the team's chances have not been irreparably damaged.

Neymar, who scored four goals in the tournament, fractured a vertebra late in the game and will be out for the rest of the tournament but for Brazil there is no alternative but to get to the final in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.

Any other result would be a national catastrophe for the country of 200 million football-mad fans, similar to the 1950 final defeat by Uruguay, also in Brazil.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will be forced to reshuffle his team in two positions with captain Thiago Silva suspended for the game against opponents who have made a record fourth consecutive World Cup semi-final.

“We'll miss Neymar,” team mate Oscar said. “Whoever comes in in his place has to play as part of the team and beat Germany. If anyone knows how to beat the Germans it is Scolari who led Brazil to their most recent world title in 2002 with a 2-0 victory over Germany in the final in what is, surprisingly, the teams' only previous World Cup meeting. 

The European heavyweights' consistency since then is nothing short of spectacular, coming back as title contenders every four years and making the semi-finals in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Without a World Cup win since 1990 and an international title since Euro 96, the Germans are convinced they finally have a team that can deliver the killer punch. 

Less exciting and less youthful than 2010 but arguably more efficient and experienced, the Germans did not need to fire on all cylinders against France. The backline worked like clockwork, eliminating most threats from France while their quick switch to attack also operated like a well-oiled German machine. “We will now try to take that next step,” coach Joachim Loew said. — Reuters

 

David Luiz will wear the captain’s armband in place of suspended Thiago Silva; Hulk (L) will need to shoulder extra responsibility in the absence of Neymar.

battles within the battle

Dante vs Klose This could be the most decisive battle in the game with the central defender shouldering the burden of responsibility in the hosts' backline following the suspension of captain Thiago Silva. Against the best Germany striker of the last 15 years, Miroslav Klose, Dante will rely a lot on his knowledge of German football, having played in the Bundesliga for the past five seasons. Dante's pace and his ability to read the game like few defenders in the world will be tested by Klose, who does not need a lot of space to hurt opponents. Chasing a record 16th World Cup goal, the 36-year-old Klose's experience and goal prowess will be needed if the Germans are to advance to their first World Cup final since 2002. Fred vs Hummels At the other end of the pitch, Germany central defender Mats Hummels will have to shackle forward Fred, who will have added responsibilities following the injury absence of Neymar. Fred has had a quiet World Cup so far, netting just once. He has had to soak up a lot of criticism for failing to score more goals as Brazil's sole center forward. With talismanic Neymar out with a back injury, more will be expected of Fred whose positional sense is outstanding. Hummels cannot afford to take his eyes off the 30-year-old inside the box even if he is far less effective than a few years ago.  Oscar vs Lahm The gifted Oscar will also have more attacking duties with Neymar out but he will come up against one of the best right-backs in the business. Oscar's quick pace and skills will be tested by Lahm, who reverted back to his fullback duties midway through the tournament after a less than successful stint as holding midfielder. With the Germany captain also adding attacking impetus, Oscar will need to be fully alert if he is to nip quick German counter-attacks launched by Lahm in the bud.

 

BELO HORIZONTE, July 7
Brazil have won a World Cup after losing their best player and they will be looking to the memory of 1962, when Pele was injured against Czechoslovakia, as an omen to get them over the loss of injured talisman Neymar.

Pele tore a thigh muscle midway through the first half of the Brazil's second game in Chile, a 0-0 draw with the Czechs. His replacement was a 22-year-old called Amarildo - nicknamed 'The Possessed' - who scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Spain in their next match and another in the final. Garrincha was another who took up the slack, scoring four goals in the next three games as Brazil beat England, Chile and Czechoslovakia again to win their second World Cup in a row. “In the 1962 World Cup, we lost Pele,” Carlos Alberto Torres, captain of the great 1970 side, told Sportv.

“The team then released Amarildo on the world, a player who even today is remembered very fondly, and who helped Brazil win their second World Cup,” he said, adding that Garrincha also stepped up when Pele was ruled out. “Maybe someone will wake up and become the Garrincha of 1962.” Brazilians are already citing the Neymar setback as a possible omen as they seek to come to terms with the forward's unsettling absence.

The young Barcelona star suffered a fractured vertebra in the 2-1 win over Colombia on Friday and will miss the rest of the tournament. Brazil meet Germany in the semi-finals on Tuesday.

“You are going to get tired of hearing about Amarildo, The Possessed, who saved the team in 1962 when he replaced Pele,” Juca Kfouri wrote in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. There are parallels and differences between today's events and those of 1962. Pele and Neymar both made their names at Santos. They were both in their early 20s when injured. And in spite of their youth, they were top goalscorers and already considered an indispensable part of the team. But unlike Neymar today, Pele had already won a World Cup following his six goals en route to the 1958 victory over Sweden. There was not the same pressure on the team as there is now.

Creative gap

Perhaps the most glaring hole in the narrative is there are no obvious candidates for the role of saviour in the current 23-man squad. Bernard or Willian are the two players expected to replace Neymar, and Oscar is being touted as the first teamer who could take on his creative mantle.

But the first two have not impressed in their substitute appearances so far and Oscar's form dropped off after a stellar showing in the opening game against Croatia. They, like the rest of the team, have tried to put a brave face on Neymar's absence and are vowing they will use it to motivate them.

“We can win the cup for him,” said Fernandinho. Veterans, too, warned the host nation could be fired up by Neymar's loss. “If Germany think they are going to come up against a weak, discouraged team because we have lost Neymar they would make an enormous mistake,” said Ronaldo. — Reuters

BELO HORIZONTE, July 7
You reap what you sow. For Fifa and Luiz Felipe Scolari that is the grim reality of Neymar's departure, in agony on a stretcher, from this World Cup. The referees in Brazil have clearly been given instructions to let the game flow and to limit red and yellow cards. Scolari took advantage of this leniency in the quarter-final against Colombia, instructing his players to neutralise the threat of James Rodriguez, hitherto the tournament's star, by roughhouse methods.

After referee Carlos Velasco Carballo allowed Fernandinho, in particular, to kick Rodriguez with impunity Colombia responded in kind. In this fetid atmosphere Neymar paid a terrible price.

The culprit, Juan Camilo Zuniga, is in the dock, but Scolari is equally to blame. Brazil's approach, one veteran observer of the country's football observed on Friday, was reminiscent of Scolari's unlovely Gremio team of the 1990s. Carballo is also at fault but the guiltiest party is Fifa. It is the governing body which sets the tone and, after the brutality that scarred the last World Cup final, when Howard Webb's attempt to let the game flow and keep 22 players on the pitch backfired, it should have known better. It did once. Back in the early 1990s, when Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini still put the good of the game ahead of their own personal aggrandisement, the pair combined to clean up the sport after the grim tableaux of Italia '90.

That tournament began with the spectacle of Cameroonian defenders crudely hacking at Argentina's Claudio Caniggia. It finished with a nine-man Argentina side beaten by a West German penalty won - to global relief - by a dive.

After this, and aware of the injuries suffered in previous years by the likes of Marco van Basten and Diego Maradona, Blatter and Platini cracked down. The tackle from behind was outlawed and, aided by video evidence, the thugs were pushed into hibernation. It took time. Yellow cards per match at a World Cup had averaged 2.56 in 1986, rose to 3.71 in 1990 and 4.25 four years later. They peaked in 2006 (5.39). — Reuters

Nottingham, July 7
Being instinctive is seen as Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s best attribute but the man who has captained India to unprecedented highs in the last seven years reveals that his often talked about gut feeling is backed by cold logic.

In a rare interview on his 33rd birthday, Dhoni recollected the time he was made captain before the World Twenty20 in 2007, how he dealt with the senior players, his leadership style and how it is to shoulder the team of a cricket crazy nation.

Talking about the trait which helped him guide India to the No.1 Test sport, 2011 World Cup, 2007 World Twenty20 and most recently the Champions Trophy last year, Dhoni says he relies on his past experiences to act instinctively on the field. “I don’t plan a lot and believe in my gut feel. But what many people don’t understand is that to have that gut feel, you have to have experienced that thing before,” Dhoni told the official BCCI website.

“For instance, you don’t know anything about bikes. I open one of my bike engines and keep it in front of you and ask you which model does your gut feeling say this engine belongs to, you will be clueless. You won’t have a gut feeling because you don’t know anything about the object there.

“My gut feeling comes from my past experiences of all the cricket I’ve played in my life and the situations I have faced. It’s not something you just feel for a moment without any logic,” said Dhoni, who faces one of the biggest challenges in his career when India take on England in the first of five Tests at Nottingham from July 9.

One could feel a lot of pressure as a leader in the presence of seniors in the dressing room, something Dhoni had to deal with when Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly were around. But now he leads a side in transition.

“The best thing about the senior players was that with their experience they had a lot of ideas and suggestions to give me. But more importantly, if I didn’t agree with some things they said, I could tell them so. They were absolutely fine with it and after 10-15 minutes would again come up with a different idea or options and then leave it to me, give me a few deliveries to think about it and decide.” — PTI

Nottingham, July 7
Virat Kohli has described England as ‘one of the toughest venues for sub-continental teams’ but said they are focused on putting up a strong performance in the five-Test series to start the transition of the young Indian team to a good quality side.

“This tour is right up there with South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I would say these are the four places where sub-continental players do want to perform well. I too have that in my mind,” said Kohli. “It is a pretty special place to play cricket and I'll be playing a Test at Lord's for the first time. So all in all it is a very exciting tour for me personally because I have never played Test cricket here before and I am really looking forward to it. I have some goals I want to achieve, and I have been thinking about them. I'm pretty excited about playing here.”

India have not done too well against England in their recent Test encounters. They lost the 2012-13 home series by a 2-1 margin and prior to that suffered a humiliating 4-0 whitewash in the summer of 2011.

It might appear to be a big burden on the outside but Kohli negated that this factor is having any effect on this new-look Indian team.

“We haven't spoken about what we did wrong in that series (2011). We've spoken about the positives we could take out of it. That was a different time. Three years down the line, we have a totally new side. Most of us haven't played Test cricket here,” he said.

“It'll be exciting for us to experience the conditions and everyone's eager to go out there and see what it's like. You get full crowds, everyone's involved in the game and everyone knows the game. It's not about washing that (2011) series off, erasing those memories. That will stay in the history books, whether we like it or not. All we can focus on is the new series we have here, and put in a strong performance which would be a starting point for this young team to go ahead and be a good quality Test side. A guy who played brilliantly in that series is mentoring us right now, speaking about his experiences, Rahul Dravid. That's a big plus,” Kohli added. — PTI

New Delhi, July 7
An additional Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for the Sports Ministry in the forthcoming Union Budget to fund the participation of teams in the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

The Ministry had demanded a funding of Rs 100 crore which will be allocated to the National Sports Federations (NSFs) for participation/preparation of their teams for the CWG/Asian Games.

The demand was made after the Sports Authority of India wrote a letter to the NSFs stating that no separate funds will be allocated for Glasgow CWG and Incheon Asian Games and the participation cost of the Indian team should only be met out of the budget earmarked under the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) 2014-15.

After SAI's circular to the NSFs, Hockey India had threatened to withdraw its men's and women's teams from the two quadrennial events citing lack of fund allocation from the government.

It has been reliably learnt that the Sports Ministry will get an additional funding when Finance Minsiter Arun Jaitely will present the Union Budget on Thursday.

“The Sports Ministry will get Rs 100 crore in the general budget. The Finance Ministry has earmarked this additional amount after the NSFs raised the issue of non-allocation of funds,” an official told The Tribune.

SAI had already spent Rs 60-70 crore in addition to its allocated budget for this year and it has been facing severe fund constraint to provide additional money to the NSFs. The SAI would distribute the remaining amount (after deducting Rs 60-70 crore) to the NSFs as part of the extra expenditure.

Asked about Hockey India's threat not to send teams to CWG, the official said an amount of Rs 30 crore was earmarked for HI under the ACTC for the financial year 2014-15 but SAI released only 10.5 crore.

“After the budget, HI will get somewhere between Rs 5-7 crore for holding preparatory camps and sending the teams to CWG and Asian Games. But the amount would be for the ongoing financial year and not till the Asian Games,” the official informed.

NEW DELHI, July 7
Tennis star Sania Mirza Monday broke into the top-five of the doubles WTA rankings for the first time in her career.

Sania and Zimbabwean partner Cara Black couldn't do too well at the Wimbledon championships and were ousted in the second round appearance but still managed to rake in 130 ranking points, enough to take Sania above Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik into fifth place.

Sania, who has 20 WTA doubles titles to her name, has had a difficult past, overcoming a career threatening wrist injury. At her peak, Sania achieved her career-best singles rankings of 27 in August 2007. Meanwhile in the ATP rankings, highest ranked Indian Somdev Devvarman dropped 10 places to 135. In men's doubles, Leander Paes remained unchanged at Number 13 and was highest ranked from the country. Rohan Bopanna dropped three places to occupy 20th place. — Agencies

LONDON, July 7
After almost four hours of mental torture, Novak Djokovic sank to his knees, crouched over the hallowed Wimbledon turf, plucked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth — never before had victory tasted so good.

It was a victory that he should have been celebrating almost an hour earlier, it was a victory that almost slipped through his sweaty fingers, it was a victory he had been craving for three years.

At 6.07pm local time on Sunday, the Serb's agony finally turned into ecstasy when Roger Federer whipped a backhand into the net to end one of the greatest finals seen at the All England Club and to elevate Djokovic to a double Wimbledon champion with a 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(4) 5-7 6-4 victory.

Fifty two minutes earlier the Serb had also stood one point away from victory at 5-4 in the fourth set — only to watch Hawkeye deliver the cruellest of blows.

The technology that had left Federer seething in the 2007 final, when he yelled “God it's killing me”, came to his rescue at match point down by ruling the Swiss's serve had in fact kissed the line after the line judge had called it out.

What should have led to a second serve from Federer had now turned into an ace, producing another twist in the gripping drama that had 15,000 people sitting on the edge of their seats and Djokovic tied up in knots.

Germany will have to contend with black magic as well Brazil’s Selecao as a voodoo priest plans to curse die Mannschaft. Black magic enthusiast Helio Sillman from Rio de Janeiro says his curse will hinder Joachim Loew's team in the semi-final. "I'll take their top player and bind his legs so he can't run on the pitch," said Sillman, referring to the voodoo doll of an undisclosed German player that will be cursed in a ceremony before the game. In his shop "World of Orixas" in the northern neighborhood of Madureira, Sillman carries out a ritual before each Selecao game. Using a a small football pitch-shaped box as his alter, he puts inside lit candles in the colours of the opposing team and the voodoo doll of their most important player. Sillman's curse on James Rodriguez did not stop the Colombian star from scoring in his team's 2-1 defeat to Brazil in Friday's quarter-finals. And he was powerless to prevent Selecao star Neymar from suffering a World Cup ending injury. But Sillman points to Brazil's results against Cameroon, Chile, Croatia and Mexico as testimony to the influence of his magic. — Agencies

BRIEFLY

Boxing India elections postponed
New Delhi: The much-awaited elections of Boxing India, the group authorised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to run the sport in the country, have been postponed. The polls were due to be held on July 9 in Mumbai but the group, which is a consortium of corporates and administrators, has decided to call them off. “Due to certain exigencies, Boxing India has decided to postpone the elections and will revert after the AIBA EC Meeting that will be held between 15th and 18th July,” the group wrote in a mail sent across to the 26 state units, which have decided to back it.

Naman’s double ton puts India A in the driver’s seat
Brisbane: Wicket-keeper Naman Ojha smashed a breathtaking double century to give India A the upper-hand on the second day of the four-day unofficial match against Australia A, here today. Riding on Naman’s scintillating unbeaten 219 and a three-wicket burst from Jasprit Bumrah (3/42), India A took a commanding position over the hosts. Australia A were reeling at 99 for six after India had declared at 475 for nine.

Tour de France: Kittel wins third stage
London: German Marcel Kittel claimed his second stage victory of the 2014 Tour de France when he comfortably won a bunch sprint on the Mall on Monday. After winning the opening leg on Saturday the Giant-Shimano rider also prevailed in the third stage, a 155-km ride from Cambridge, by beating Slovakian Peter Sagan. Australian Mark Renshaw, who took over the Omega Pharma- Quick Step team’s sprinting duties after Mark Cavendish crashed out on Saturday, was third. Italian Vincenzo Nibali finished in the bunch to retain the overall leader’s yellow jersey with a two-second advantage.

Windies beat NZ by 39 runs to draw series 1-1
Roseau (Dominica): Andre Fletcher hit 62 off 49 deliveries while Sheldon Cottrell and Sunil Narine starred with the ball as West Indies beat New Zealand by 39 runs in their second and final T20 match to draw the series 1-1. Right-hander Fletcher’s top score, spiced with three fours and three sixes, led the home team to 165/6. Brief scores: WI: 165/6 (Fletcher 62, Simmons 36) beat NZ: 126 (Williamson 37; Cottrell 3-28) by 39 runs.

Bangladesh bans Shakib for six months
Dhaka: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been banned for six months for his “severe attitude problem”, the country’s cricket board said on Monday. Shakib will also not be allowed to play in overseas competitions till the end of 2015. Shakib was accused of travelling to the West Indies to play in the Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament without a clearance from his board and was subsequently ordered to return to Bangladesh. The 27-year-old had reportedly threatened to quit playing for the country and had an altercation with coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, an allegation Shakib has denied. — Agencies