Tense and frustrating. If German and Brazilian fans wanted to sum up Friday's World Cup action, they might be best served by those words.
Yet both teams will advance to battle each other in the first semifinal on July 8, having survived one-goal wins against France and Colombia, respectively.
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Brazil looked like the dominant team early on, and got rolling with a corner corner kick in the seventh minute. Captain Thiago Silva slipped in behind the entire Colombian line to boot the ball in.
GOAL by the Brazilian captain Thiago Silva http://t.co/xneqHxgccT— Football Vines (@FootballVines) July 4, 2014
As BBC presenter Ben Brown documented in a tweet from the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian fans went crazy.
Brazil fans at the big screen in copacabana go crazy as Silva scores! #bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/TxIgTBPKGu— Ben Brown (@BenBrownBBC) July 4, 2014
The host nation didn't let up from there. Brazil hurled a volley of assaults at the Colombian side, most notably a couple of powerful left-footers from Givanildo Vieira de Souza, who is nicknamed Hulk.
But Brazil's offense seemed to stall in the second half, just like it did during the previous round against Chile.
Quality scoring chances were scarce until David Luiz put Brazil up 2-0 with a free kick in the 69th minute. It was a beauty:
What a goal by David Luiz, BEAUTY http://t.co/VtLMQF4S4Z— Football Vines (@FootballVines) July 4, 2014
From there, things got a little wilder.
Colombia, trying to breathe life into the best World Cup performance in the nation's history, finally showed the offensive flair that had gotten them to the quarterfinal match. The team's renewed energy earned star striker James Rodriguez a penalty kick in the 80th minute, which he buried to make it 2-1.
Weirdly, a giant locust seemed to land on the superstar player after he scored on a penalty kick:
An enourmos bug landed on James Rodríguez as he was celebrating his goal... http://t.co/7lDnNCi4bz— World Cup 2014 (@PostWorldCup) July 4, 2014
But that was all the upstart South American team could muster, as Brazil survived a few more Colombian corners to advance.
Great photo of David Luiz and James Rodriguez after the final whistle. #BRA #COL pic.twitter.com/JA7N1zRX4N— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 4, 2014
Brazil will play its next match without Silva, who will be forced to sit out for one game, after earning his second yellow card in the tournament.
In Friday's earlier and much more lackluster game between Germany and France, Germany's offense dominated much of the first half, with Mats Hummels scoring with a header in the 13th minute.
Although France wound up putting three more shots on goal than its opponent, the team also spent much of the second half traipsing around the midfield, never evoking a sense of urgency, as its World Cup chances slowly faded away.
At one point, French striker Karim Benzema broke free, and fired an angled shot over the head of German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. It would have been all France needed to send a frankly boring round-of-eight game into overtime. But Neuer's mitts got in the way, and Germany went through to a record fourth-straight World Cup semifinal.
In the end, the result of the European match was what many had predicted. If you missed it, don't bother watching the replay -- neither Germany nor France put on a championship display befitting a soccer powerhouse.
Though, of course, there was more for the French to cry about...
Griezmann in tears after their defeat to #GER http://t.co/wtcahqELjt— Football Vines (@FootballVines) July 4, 2014
On Saturday, Argentina meets Belgium at 12 p.m. ET, and the Netherlands plays Costa Rica at 4 p.m. ET.