World Cup 2014: 25 Most Memorable Moments
11. James Rodriguez Goal vs Uruguay
Up until Columbias second round showdown against Uruguay, Tim Cahill would have been forgiven for thinking that he had goal of the tournament sorted, but James Rodriguez had other ideas.
In the 28th minute, Rodriguez chested down an Aguilar header and volleyed home from 25 yards sending the Columbian wild and reducing Ian Wright to tears for some reason. The replay of this goal made it even better as you can see the little glance towards goal from Rodriguez as the ball was coming to him.
This was Rodriguezs 5th goal of the tournament and scored his 6th in the next round, which proved enough for him to win the Golden Boot. The Columbian arguably deserved to win the Golden Ball as well; in a tournament that so much was expected from Messi and Ronaldo the Rodriguez was the one that received all the plaudits and a great future lies ahead.
10. Freds Penalty
Refereeing controversy has already featured on this list and the officiating in the tournament opener is deserving of a place of its own.
A Neymar strike had cancelled out an early Marcelo own goal and the game was deadlocked until minimal contact from Dejan Lovren caused Fred to fall to the floor, in what appeared to be a pathetic attempt to win penalty. everyone laughed and the game continued. Or it would have if the referee, in a comical moment of sympathy for the overly dramatic striker pointed to the spot, and then commenced on a lap of the pitch to avoid the Croatian protest.
There were fears from that this decision could signal a World Cup littered with officiating errors and that the hosts would be given more generous penalties, but these were eventually proved unfounded.
This moment turned out to be Freds most important contribution to Brazils World Cup Campaign as fans around the world wondered how brazil could possibly not have a better available option to play at the front of their attack.