tenor

先生も取り上げておられるように、サッカーW杯ブラジル大会準決勝ブラジル対コロンビアの一戦は2-1でブラジルが勝利し，開催国の意地を見せました。しかし，この試合でブラジルのエース，ネイマール選手が負傷。検査の結果vertebra（椎骨）の骨折が判明し，ブラジルはエースの離脱というあまりにも高い代償を払う結果となりました。
tenorというと「テナー[テノール]歌手」という意味がすぐに想起されますが，その他に「方向, 傾向」という意味があります（『プログレッシブ英和中辞典』小学館）。英英辞書にもthe tenor of somethingでthe general way in which an event or process takes placeとありました（LDOCE）。ここでは「試合の模様」と解釈できます。（Koyamamoto）

Brazil Takes a Painful Step Forward
World Cup 2014: Neymar's Injury Dampens Brazil's Win Over Colombia
FORTALEZA, Brazil — It was an enormous win for Brazil, but it came at a gigantic cost.
Brazil on Friday powered to an impressive 2-1 quarterfinal victory over upstart Colombia at Estádio Castelão, setting off another round of raucous nationwide partying. But the noise and jubilation proved short-lived, as it was revealed after the game that Neymar — the country’s best player and biggest star — would miss the rest of the World Cup after injuring his back in the dying minutes of the hugely physical game.
… It was a high-stakes game, and play grew increasingly intense as the game wore on, with both Neymar and Rodríguez, another 22-year-old attacking star, who finished the tournament with six goals, taking several hard fouls. There were 54 fouls called in the game, the highest total of any match in the tournament. Scolari acknowledged that both teams probably played with too much physicality, but he said the referee, Velasco Carballo, did not do enough to control the tenor of the game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/sports/worldcup/world-cup-2014-brazil-beats-colombia-in-quarterfinal.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSumSmallMediaHigh&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0