Colombia vs. Uruguay, 2014 World Cup: James Rodriguez fires Cafeteros to first quarterfinal

The AS Monaco midfielder put in his most stunning performance of the tournament yet to liven up what would otherwise have been a very tight, close encounter. Opening the scoring midway through the first half with a sensational volley, the playmaker then went on to score the killer goal in the second half to put his team 2-0 ahead and on the road to the quarterfinals.

The first half was a tense affair more fitting of classic World Cup football rather than the anarchic, end-to-end displays that have characterised this tournament and were on show in the earlier game. Uruguay looked as disjointed as they have done throughout the tournament and lacked the spark that Luis Suarez could provide, with Edinson Cavani looking a shadow of his former self. But they were defending robustly, looking well-organised, and beginning to frustrate Colombia.

This seems rude.

Admit it, your first response after watching that is, “geez, what a d***” ... or something similar.

Just take the kick, James Rodriguez, don’t mind the yellow, red and blue flapping parrot-person squawking at you from the stands:

And is his friend a frog or a bug or something?

Great assist by Juan Cuadrado with that header, too.

As usual, Colombia busted out their signature dance.

Martinez bagged a brace in the game and was aided by the excellent James Rodriguez, who starts on the left for Colombia with Juan Cuadrado on the opposite flank.

Match date/time: Saturday, 4 p.m. ET

TV: ABC (U.S. - English), Univision (U.S. - Spanish), CBC (Canada), ITV 1 (U.K.), Canal 4 (Uruguay), Caracol TV (Colombia)