RIO DE JANEIRO, July 7 — The World Cup’s flurry of goals and upsets has dissipated, making way for more conservative play peppered with fouls and time wasting.

Brazil, Argentina, Germany and the Netherlands — with 33 semi-final appearances between them since 1930 — moved to within a game of the championship match after scoring a total of four goals in their four quarterfinals. In those games, the average goals per match fell to 1.25 from 2.75 a match in the group and round-of-16 stages.

Record five-time champion Brazil stifled tournament top scorer James Rodriguez of Colombia in a game with a tournament- high number of fouls to advance to the last four. Argentina broke down Belgium’s attacking flow two days ago after taking the lead on Gonzalo Higuain’s goal, according to the Belgian coach Marc Wilmots.

“We’ve seen the experience of the Argentines,” Wilmots told reporters. “They can distort the rhythm, they can take 30 seconds to take a throw in.”

Dutch coach Louis van Gaal’s team needed penalties two days ago to overcome first-time quarterfinalist Costa Rica which showed little intent to attack. Los Ticos packed their defense and appeared to delay restarting the game after stoppages. Netherlands goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen made his first save in the 117th minute.

Time wasting

“The referee allowed them to get away with everything in terms of time wasting,” van Gaal said. “I’m not even talking about the fouls. We couldn’t do anything.”

Brazil will face Germany tomorrow in Belo Horizonte for a place in the World Cup final, while Argentina plays the Netherlands in Sao Paulo a day later.

With Brazil’s top scorer Neymar out with a back injury and the elimination of Rodriguez’s Colombia team, the risk of low scoring games is increasing. That pair had 10 goals between them or 55 per cent of the 22 goals scored by their teams. Brazil’s main striker Fred has scored only once.

“We’ve lost someone we don’t want to miss, especially for the semifinal and final,” Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said in reference to NeyMarch

Teams bagged 154 goals in 56 matches before the quarterfinals, more than in the entire previous tournament in South Africa in 2010. There was a record 171 goals in 1998. Observers said the glut was because of everything from fitter players to more attacking tactics and even a more aerodynamic Adidas AG ball.

Mata-mata

Now, in the knockout rounds — known as “mata-mata,” or “kill or be killed” in Brazilian slang — the remaining squads are more risk-adverse.

Brazil, whose 1970 team led by Pele set a blueprint for attacking play in winning the tournament, can’t afford to emulate that style in every game, according to Neymar, who is ruled out of the tournament after breaking a vertebra in his back against Colombia.

“Football nowadays is so difficult — so even — that the team who is most committed on the pitch ends up winning,” Neymar said before the game. “We are not necessarily here to produce a spectacle. We are here to run to the end, until we are tired, and come out as winners.”

Van Gaal, whose team is meeting Argentina in a World Cup for the first since eliminating the South Americans in a 1998 quarterfinal, said his opponents haven’t shown an intent to attack even though they have record four-time world player of the year Lionel Messi.

Warriors

“Argentina just slammed on the brakes against Belgium,” he said. “Argentina are excellent with strong individuals like Messi. But they don’t always attack.”

Writing in Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, Brazil’s 1970 World Cup winner Tostao said the Brazilians had advanced last week by playing like “warriors” rather than with the flair the team is known for. There were a tournament-high 54 fouls during the match.

In Rio de Janeiro, Germany beat France 1-0 to reach a fourth straight semi-final. The Netherlands needed a penalty shootout to get past Costa Rica in Salvador after the match ended 0-0 after extra time.

Germany forward Lukas Podolski said there is no margin for error in the knock-out rounds.

“It is not important how you play, how many skills you show before the goal,” Podolski said. “It is only important to end the game with a victory.” — Bloomberg