We are at the knockout rounds of what has been a rather excellent World Cup. Two teams who entered the tournament with almost opposite expectations square up in what now looks like a mouth-watering clash.
Luiz Felipe Scolari would know better than to give Brazil’s domination of Chile in the 1998 and 2010 editions any importance tonight. The difference couldn’t be further between Paris/Johannesburg and Belo Horizonte. This Chilean team just beat the reigning World and European champions 2-0 and in all honesty, borderline embarrassed them for the 90 minutes. They’ll be coming into this match with their tails up.
Brazil’s progress has almost been a story of one man taking to immense pressure at the biggest stage like fish to water. Neymar’s display against Cameroon was reminiscent of his days at Santos where he’d toy around with defenders at will. More than the 4 goals, it’s the impact he’s had on this team that makes the Selecao serious contenders now.
Scolari would have worries aplenty before putting his team out against the pace of Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas. The back four have been shoddy to say the least and should they continue their form, the two Chilean forwards would be in business sooner than the men in canary yellow would like. While Marcelo has been patchy, Dani Alves has had a shocker of a tournament by his standards. Someone who claims to be among the top few full backs in the world cannot be making mistakes as frequently as he’s made in the group stages. David Luiz, for all his athleticism and skill on the ball, is quite poor in terms of defensive discipline. His forward runs often leave Thiago Silva alone, something all three of their group-stage opponents exposed.