The World Cup needed this, a golden moment in order to forget Suarez's atrocious teeth-first attack on the Italian Giorgio Chiellini and what came across as a ridiculous if understandably emotion-charged Uruguay reaction, a nation on furious attack to defend the indefensible.
Surely someone in Uruguay thinks that snacking on an opponent's shoulder is not acceptable, that the football world had not conspired to bring Suarez down armed with Photoshop. Uruguay should be furious with Suarez. Without him, they are an ordinary side.
Anyway, Rodriguez and Colombia did the business in style. Suarez was gone, replaced by a Cinderella story. Colombia might be the best team at the World Cup. They are complete, composed, elegant, athletic and lethal.
How did they sneak under the radar to this extent? Did anyone leap like a gazelle then kiss the carpet when they got Colombia in the office sweepstake? The dark horse predictions were so concentrated on Belgium they lost dark horse status. Chile got the odd mention.
But you looked at Colombia and went "oh, that's right, there are two Os in Colombia, not an O and a U."
Colombia is synonymous with sporting tragedy, namely the slaying of defender Andres Escobar after his own goal helped eliminate that talented team from the 1994 tournament. This team have a beautiful glow to them, one that was supposed to emanate from that highly-touted 1994 squad whose failure brought the dark and violent worlds of drug-trafficking and gambling to the surface.
Watch: FIFA World Cup Highlights: Columbia 2 Uruguay 0
The sublime Rodriguez has also appeared out of nowhere, for most of us, because he plays for Monaco in the French league. There are football aficionados who drive themselves crazy telling the rest of us there is more to life than the English Premier League. They are right in a footballing sense. But the thing about the EPL is that if your misbehaving internet connection is making all the players look like they've been eaten by Luis Suarez, you can read about it instead. A lot of us read about the EPL more than we watch it. One inherent weakness with other leagues is their refusal to take up the English language.
The World Cup survives any language barrier and the nicely undermanned TV commentaries let the pictures tell the story, unlike a few other sports we could name. The reactions from the players and supporters go beyond almost anything else in sport. The atmosphere is so real, free of league's State of Origin-type over-hype and contrivances. So far, it's been about pain and pain relief.
Neymar and David Luiz conducted a lengthy religious ceremony after Brazil's penalty shoot out win over Chile, an indication that nothing distils sport down to its sharpest point like a penalty shootout. There's no such thing as a bad one for tension and drama.
Supporters screamed at the heavens. Brazil's Big Phil Scolari, who could do with a decent tailor by World Cup managerial standards, had to lift Neymar like a rag doll from the turf. Chile players cried. If this was a rugby code, the raw emotion would be replaced by an onfield interview.
"You must be really happy with that Neymar," suggests the interviewer. "The boys are really happy with that," Neymar would reply.
Colombia play Brazil in a quarter-final that promises drama on a rare scale. Hang on for more tears and impromptu thanksgiving ceremonies.
