Rio de Janeiro: The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) on Sunday called on Fifa to rescind a yellow card ban that is set to keep skipper Thiago Silva out of Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final against Germany.
The organisation said it was urging Fifa’s disciplinary commission “to annul the yellow card unjustly shown” to Silva in their quarter-final win over Colombia.
The CBF also demanded football’s governing body investigate the “violent challenge” of Colombia’s Juan Camilo Zuniga, whose knee-in-the-back tackle on Neymar saw Brazil’s starlet stretched off with a fractured vertebra.
The aerial challenge ended Neymar’s participation in the tournament, dealing a blow to the hosts’ chances of seeing off the Germans, while Silva’s booking left him suspended and Brazil shorn of a second key player.
Saying he never intended to hurt his rival, Zuniga apologised to Neymar for his challenge, which Brazilian media on Sunday complained was too rough even for an MMA wrestling encounter.
Fifa has confirmed it is studying the Zuniga tackle.
