The knockout stages arrived today and what a treat the World Cup had in store for us! An all-South-American affair lay ahead as Brazil took on Chile in the day’s earlier kick-off, soon to be followed by the clash between Colombia and Uruguay. Read on to find our report of the first of those games!
Both sides made key chances in central midfield as Fernandinho, who was impressive for the Brazilians when coming on as a substitute against Cameroon earlier in the week, entered the fray in the place of Paulinho. Arturo Vidal, the combative box-to-box midfielder came back into the side for Chile after being rested in their last group game versus Holland; both changes would prove to be crucial to both sides’ ambitions in this match.
The atmosphere before the match was absolutely electric! You knew from the minute the anthems were being played out and the jeers from one set of fans were balanced out only by the other set singing along that this game was going to be some contest and it did not disappoint in the slightest.
Brazil certainly took a liking to this atmosphere as they started the brighter of the two sides. Chile were equally as impressive as they had been throughout the tournament, implementing their pressing game and weaving possession from side to side trying to look for openings. However what was so notable about the Brazilian performance was that they’d made huge strides compared to their performances from the group stage. Fast, powerful, organised play saw Brazil hold off the Chilean pressure early on and embark on numerous dangerous counter-attacks.
Aside from a heavy knock on Neymar, Brazil will have been elated with their start and made their good work pay off before the 20 minute mark after Chile’s Achilles heel came back to haunt them. Brazil had been promising a goal from set-pieces and they made good on that promise as David Luiz nodded home a corner from close range after Thiago Silva towered over the defence, flicking on to his defence partner who fought with Jara to get contact on the ball before it hit the back of the net to give Brazil the lead – quite who got the goal, no-one was sure at that time but it didn’t matter in the slightest to the home fans.
The game soon became even more of an end-to-end affair than it had been previously as Chile really stepped up the tempo. Chile’s tirelessness soon paid off as they caught the hosts napping just after the half hour mark. A routine throw-in went completely wrong for the Brazilians as Marcelo threw to Hulk who made a half-hearted effort to claim the ball, only for Vargas to take it away from him on the corner of the Brazilian box. Vargas then played a perfect pass in towards Alexis Sanchez, who had somehow wondered away from the entire Brazilian defence, to slot expertly past Julio Cesar for the equaliser.
Half-time came and went as both sides ended the first half unable to retain the kind of intensity that they had shown in the first 30 minutes. The second half started at a much slower pace than the first as Chile weren’t pressing as high as previously and Brazil weren’t as keen to make surging runs forward. However they soon both grew back into their strides and Brazil thought they’d made that good work pay off again after 54 minutes as Hulk had the ball in the back of the net. It wasn’t to be though as Howard Webb and his team of assistants adjudged from distance that when Hulk, who had a high diagonal ball played in towards him, controlled the pass and shaped up for the shot he struck the ball with his arm and therefore the goal was illegal and chalked off as a result. It took a few replays for the various commentary teams to come to any sort of decision which shows how close it was – the ball looked to touch Hulk’s shoulder which would have meant the goal stood but it would have been impossible to see that in a split-second.
Much like after the first goal, Hulk’s disallowed effort saw Chile pick up the pace again and really test Brazil. The hosts had been much stronger defensively than they’d shown in the group stages and Julio Cesar hadn’t been particularly busy but Aranguiz soon put paid to that for Chile as he nearly capped off a wonderful team move down the flanks with a great finish. Isla and Vidal played a great give-and-go down the right-hand side, Vidal with the most casual of return passes as you’d like, before the former played a low cross in towards Aranguiz who fired towards the near post only for Julio Cesar to make a great save when his momentum was going the other way.
With attacking moves of that quality being thwarted by both goalkeepers, extra time seemed a certainty and sure enough, regular time finished with the score level at 1-1. Extra time continued in the same vein though as neither keeper was willing to be beaten for second time. Julio Cesar was eventually beaten, and right at the death of the second half of extra time too, but thankfully for him the crossbar came to his rescue and sent Pinilla’s shot rocketing back to where it came from.
A penalty shootout followed. This match was a great case for the return of the Golden Goal format in my opinion as it was an absolutely classic encounter and a shame that it had to end in such circumstances – there was obviously always going to be a loser in this match but to decide it in this manner just seemed cruel as both sides had left everything on the pitch; to call it titanic would be an understatement. Nonetheless, the show went on and a penalty shootout ensued. David Luiz nailed the first one for Brazil (not quite sure he justified his £50m move to PSG with this performance but the centre-back was excellent throughout), before a calamity of mistakes ensued. Pinilla saw Chile’s first effort saved before Willian rolled Brazil’s second wide and Sanchez had Chile’s second saved to make it 1-0 to Brazil after two efforts each. Marcelo then doubled Brazil’s lead before Aranguiz made up for his earlier miss by blasting into the top corner; Hulk couldn’t do the same though as he blasted his effort at the keeper before Diaz made it 2-2 after four kicks each. Neymar then stepped up to slot so coolly past his soon-to-be club teammate Claudio Bravo before Jara missed Chile’s corresponding effort to send the noise levels in the stadium through the roof as Brazil booked their place in the quarter-finals!
What an exhilarating match! I don’t think any more comment is needed. Get it on catch-up or something guys because this game was an absolute corker. Check back in with us soon where I’m sure we’ll have more classic action to bring you!