Markable

Lionel Messi has wanted that Neymar can make a quick recovery from his injuries and will be able to play the rest of the matches for his country (Brazil).   The Argentine Barcelona midfielder has posted a picture of him and Neymar celebrating a goal on his official Facebook page on Saturday.   “Neymar, I hope you will quickly recover the injury, friend! Get well soon my friend, Neymar Jr.” the caption of the picture reads.   Brazil’s bid to win a sixth World Cup has suffered a devastating blow after Neymar was ruled out of the rest of the tournament after fracturing a bone in his back during the quarter-final victory against Colombia.   The Barcelona striker was taken off the pitch on a stretcher after taking a knee to the back from the Colombia defender Juan Zuniga late in the game.   He was taken to a private clinic in Fortaleza – “crying out in pain”, according to the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, – where an X-ray revealed he had fractured one of his vertebrae.

Maradona feels Argentina could be in trouble in World Cup 2014 if they don`t lift their game against Belgium in the quarterfinals. Over-dependence on Lionel Messi could also be counter-productive, the legend feels.   "We still haven`t got started," said Diego Maradona in a crunching analysis of Argentina`s performance in the FIFA World Cup 2014 so far. Argentina will be playing Belgium in a quarterfinal match in Brasilia on Saturday and Maradona feels the team could be in trouble if they play the way they did against Switzerland in the last-16 stage.   Maradona has been a strong critic of the Argentine side. The legendary striker, who won the 1986 World Cup with Argentina, said the over-dependence of Lionel Messi has been counter-productive. Maradona has warned that if Argentina crash out, Messi should not be made a scapegoat.   "They need to get it into their heads that we can`t be `Sporting Messi`. Maybe he can score a great goal ... but if it doesn`t come off for the kid, we can`t jump on him tomorrow as if he`s guilty of the Argentine disaster," Maradona said on Venezuelan TV. Interestingly, there are murmurs that Maradona could become the coach of Venezuela.   Argentina edged past Switzerland by a last-gasp extra-time goal. It was a lucky escape against a rugged Swiss team that was denied by the post in the dying seconds of a well-contested game.   Known for controversial comments, Maradona says Argentina is playing "at 40 per cent of their capability," and if they don`t improve against the gritty Belgians, there could be disaster for the Latin Americans.   Messi has finished Man-of-the-Match in each game, and scored four of Argentina`s seven goals. But the one-goal wins have been rather unimpressive only highlighting the fact that other players were expected to make bigger contributions.   "The kid (Messi) is very alone ... The team doesn`t have a change of rhythm, movements in its strikers," said Maradona, saying the players lacked a give-it-all attitude.   "I feel something very strong inside, like bitterness, rage, frustration, because Argentina can play much, much better ... The coach has to impose this." If they do not improve against Belgium, "we`re in trouble," he said.   Argentina has won the World Cup twice and would love to lift it for a third time on the soil of their great rivals Brazil. The hosts are gunning for a sixth title and have never won at home.

Thiago Silva will miss the World Cup semi-final against Germany after picking up a booking in the 2-1 win against Colombia.  The Brazil captain was shown a yellow card for a needless foul on David Ospina in the 64th minute, his second of the tournament which means he will be suspended for Tuesday`s clash in Belo Horizonte.  Silva charged towards the goalkeeper, who had just collected a Neymar free-kick, and blocked him as he attempted to clear the ball from danger.  "The yellow card has taken me out of the semi-final, but I know whoever comes into my place is well equipped to fill my boots," Silva said.  "It was a silly thing. I was running back and he put the ball in front of me - there wasn`t really much else I could have done."  Dante is likely to come in as Silva`s replacement in central defence, with the Bayern Munich defender the most experienced option off the bench.  Napoli`s Henrique is another option for Luiz Felipe Scolari, but with just five international caps he is likely to be considered too much of a risk against Germany.

Brazil’s bid to win a sixth World Cup has suffered a devastating blow after Neymar was ruled out of the rest of the tournament after fracturing a bone in his back during the quarter-final victory against Colombia.   The Barcelona striker was taken off the pitch on a stretcher after taking a knee to the back from the Colombia defender Juan Zuniga late in the game.   He was taken to a private clinic in Fortaleza – “crying out in pain”, according to the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, – where an X-ray revealed he had fractured one of his vertebrae.   Rodrigo Lasmar, the Brazil team doctor, said: “This news is not easy but he will not be available for the rest of the World Cup. Neymar has a broken vertebra. He will be out for four to six weeks.”   Zuniga defended the challenge, claiming he did not deliberately try to hurt Brazil’s talisman.   “It was a normal move” he said. “I never meant to hurt a player. I was on the field, playing for the shirt from my country, not without the intent to injure. I was just defending my shirt.”   Thiago Silva and David Luiz had scored the goals to set up a semi-final against Germany in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, but Neymar’s injury represents a grievous setback given his importance to the team and the absence of a ready-made replacement. He has been one of the stars of the tournament and a player the Brazil public regard as their best hope of victory.   Brazil will also have to do without Thiago Silva against Germany, ruled out after his second yellow card of the tournament, but it is the news about Neymar that will raise the most doubts about whether Scolari’s team have enough quality to go all the way.   Scolari had earlier held a press conference in which he ruled Neymar out of the Germany game but acknowledged that the news might be even worse.   “I don’t know,” he said to the question of how he could replace Neymar. “I’m going to have to study this. It depends how people recover. Neymar has gone to a clinic.   “He was crying out in pain and I can guarantee it’s going to be hard for him, from what the doctors are telling me, and from what I was seeing, with the pain he was in. He’s young, he has a lot of energy and he takes cares of himself. So let’s see. Let’s just hope it’s not a serious problem.”   Unfortunately for Brazil, the scan revealed the injury was worse than Brazil’s medical staff had initially feared. “He’s out of the competition,” David Luiz said. “He’s a great guy and now he’s out. Everyone feels sad.”   Maicon added: “We must give Neymar all our support. It is complicated now [for the team], at this stage of a World Cup.”

A sensational David Luiz free kick took Brazil into the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 victory over Colombia but the tournament hosts saw star striker Neymar carried off in agony.  Brazil`s captain Thiago Silva will also be suspended for Tuesday`s semi-final against Germany after he followed up his first World Cup goal with his second yellow card of the tournament.  Brazil are in the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 12 years and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is one step nearer his vow to win the cup for a sixth time.  But Scolari buried his head in his hands when he saw Silva booked and faces an anxious wait for news of Neymar who was reportedly taken to hospital for tests.  Neymar was stretchered off with a back injury after being clattered by Colombia defender Juan Camilo Zuniga. Globo television said the Brazilian star was taken away in an ambulance.  Colombia`s James Rodriguez extended his lead as the tournament`s top scorer with his sixth goal in five games from the penalty spot after Julio Cesar brought down Carlos Bacca.  But Colombia now leave and Brazil move on to only their second World Cup meeting with Germany in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday. The Germans beat France 1-0 earlier in the day.  Roared off on by a fervent home crowd, the hosts made a fast start and were ahead inside seven minutes.  Just as in their last 16 clash with Chile a finish at the back post from a Neymar corner opened the scoring as Silva escaped the clutches of Carlos Sanchez to bundle home.  Silva then had defensive duties to do as he got the slightest of touches to Juan Cuadrado`s drive to turn it behind as Colombia tried to react.  Jose Pekerman`s men could have been further behind moments later, as David Ospina got down well to parry Hulk`s effort before making a more comfortable save from Oscar.  Silva had to intervene once more to break up flowing Colombia counter-attack led by Rodriguez, but Cuadrado`s poor pass allowed the Brazilian captain to intercept when he had two free teammates waiting for a cross.  Ospina denied Hulk once more with another save low to his left before Neymar bent a free-kick inches over the crossbar as Brazil ended the half looking to kill the game off.  Chances at both ends dried up early on in the second-half, despite the game continuing to be played at a frenetic pace.  Brazil were dealt a huge blow midway through the second-half when Silva was booked for barging into Ospina as he sought to clear the ball.  Brazilian nerves were settled in the 69th minute when Luiz sent a wonderful dipping free-kick high past Ospina from fully 30 metres.  Yet, Colombia were back in the game 10 minutes from time when substitute Carlos Bacca was upended by Julio Cesar inside the area.  The Brazil goalkeeper was lucky just to see a yellow card from Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo. But he could do nothing to stop Rodriguez rolling home his sixth goal of the tournament from the resulting penalty.  Scolari`s men saw out the final few minutes, but there could be more bad news ahead as they wait for news of Neymar`s fate.

A Mats Hummels header sent Germany into a record fourth successive World Cup semi-finals as they beat France 1-0 in the Maracana on Friday.   The Germans -- who have not won the World Cup since 1990 -- will play either hosts Brazil or Colombia in Belo Horizonte next Tuesday.   Hummels headed home from a superb freekick by Toni Kroos to give the Germans the lead in the 13th minute.   Germany thought they should have been awarded a penalty shortly afterwards as Miroslav Klose went down with his shirt being tugged by Mathieu Debuchy. France had their chances with the best seeing German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer marking his 50th appearance with a great double save first from Mathieu Valbuena and then Karim Benzema.   Benzema had a great chance to level affairs in the dying seconds as he worked some space on the left but his shot was batted away by the peerless Neuer.

Ever wish you could take back an email that you sent by mistake? If you're Goldman Sachs and you have enough lawyers, you can convince Google to help you. Google is preventing a Gmail user from accessing an email that a Goldman Sachs employee mistakenly sent with sensitive client information, Goldman said Thursday. The initial incident occurred on June 23 when a contractor at Goldman Sachs accidentally sent an email to the domain @gmail.com instead of @gs.com, exposing a client's confidential account information to a random Gmail user, according to Reuters. The bank then filed an apparently unprecedented complaint with a New York court asking it to order Google to delete the message "to avoid the risk of inflicting a needless and massive privacy violation.""Google faces little more than the minor inconvenience of intercepting a single email — an email that was indisputably sent in error," the company said. Google wound up blocking the email voluntarily, so it doesn't seem that any legal precedent has been set in which courts intervene in requests to remove individual emails. “Google complied with the court order to block the email," Goldman spokeswoman Andrea Raphael told . "They have told us that the email was not accessed from the time they sent it to the time it was blocked, so no client information was breached.”

The bank did not disclose how many clients were affected, but it is now seeking further legal action.

“We are going through further proceedings with the court to see that the email is deleted,” Raphael said.