Photo: Julio Cesar is the hero as his two crucial saves helped Brazil overcome a very stubborn Chile in a penalty shootout. (Getty Images)
On a day dubbed ‘South American Saturday,’ Julio Cesar came up trumps for hosts Brazil as he made two crucial saves in the penalty shout-out to send then into the last eight. Not even extra time was enough to separate Chile from the Selecao as both teams fought for every blade of grass in Belo Horizonte. David Luiz had given Brazil an early lead but La Roja fought back through Alexis who drew them level before half time.
The match got off to a feisty start with both teams getting stuck-in showing early signs that they both wanted a place in the quarter-finals real badly. Marcelo had the first strike at goal but his effort went just wide on Claudio Bravo’s right hand post on 5 minutes.Brazilian hearts would have skipped a beat just two minutes later when the wonder-boy Neymar went down under a challenge from Charles Aranguiz and needed medical attention.
The Brazilians then settled quickly and started to exert their style on the Chileans forcing them to defend as Oscar, Neymar and Hulk were getting on the ball. Brazil took the lead on 18 minutes when Neymar’s free kick from almost the corner flag was flicked on by Thiago Silva and David Luiz got the final touch. It caused an eruption in the stadium as the fans got behind their heroes.
Chile were still forced to defend but they never got flustered and kept plugging away. The Selecao could have extended the lead on 26 minute when Neymar used his pace to get away from the defense but his left-footed effort went well wide of the left upright. Alexis equalized in the 32nd minute when Hulk made a poor back pass which was gobbled up by Eduardo Vargas who played in Alexis and he calmly slotted the ball pass Cesar in goal.
Brazil could have regained the lead on 36 minutes but Neymar’s header from Oscar’s cross defected off Gary Medel and out for a corner and the half ended 1-1.
The second half kicked off with the hosts being very patient but finding space to move about looking for an opening. Hulk thought he has scored on 55 minutes but it was ruled out for a hand ball. Alexis and Arturo Vidal then got more involved in the game but they could not really threaten the goal at this point.
Cesar rescued Brazil on 65 minutes when Mauricio Isla played a great give-and-go with Vidal, carving the defense open then he crossed to Aranguiz but the Toronto FC goalkeeper made a great stop giving up a corner.
At this stage the legs were going and players started to tire so the game lost some of its intensity as the Selecao searched for a winner. Substitute Jo should have scored in the 74th minute when his missed the cross from Hulk completely with the gaping goal at his mercy. Bravo then came up big to deny Hulk 10 minutes later as he tried his luck from outside the area but the new Barcelona goalkeeper was equal to the task. The game ended 1-1 and so extra time was needed.
Neither team was a serious threat in extra time which was quite dull and uninspiring. Chile was prepared to play on the counter using the pace and wizardry of Alexis. Neither shot-stopper had anything to worry about and so penalties had to decide who advanced to the quarter-finals.
Brazil scored three from five courtesy of David Luiz, Marcelo and Neymar while Chile only managed to convert two penalties thanks to Charles Aranguiz and Marcelo Diaz. Julio Cesar made two great saves from Alexis and Mauricio Pinilla while Gonzalo Jara could only hit the post sending Brazil into wild celebrations as they booked their spot to the next phase in a hard-fought game.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login