World Cup 2014 Match Report: Brazil 1 – Chile 1 (3-2 After Penalties)

Lineups:

Brazil: Cesar, Alves, Luiz, Thiago Silva, Fernandinho, Marcelo, Hulk, Fred, Neymar, Oscar, Gustavo
Chile: Bravo, Mena, Ilsa, Silva, Sanchez, Vidal, Vargas, Medel, Jara, Aranguiz, Dias

Wheeeee we’re into the Round of 16 of the World Cup! All the matches have flown by so fast, and it’s the knockout rounds already where one bad game, one slip up means the end of the World Cup for the unfortunate team. Sadly, today that team was Chile who were clearly the better team but failed to capitalize on their chances and ultimately lost due to terrible penalty taking after extra time.

The match started off pretty shaky with both teams making a couple of weak attacks, really testing out the defence but not taking advantage of any opportunities. It was clear from the beginning though that most of the Chile players were targeting Neymar, whenever he had the ball, he was getting tackled off it, most of it pretty clean though a bit heavy handed. There was a moment when he limped to the side to receive treatment, but soon after he went right back to running and carrying the Brazilian offence.

Pinilla just cannot.

I don’t know if it’s the stereotype about dramatic South American players, but there were two penalty shouts within minutes of each other. First was when Sanchez drops a ball into the penalty box to Vargas who falls over with minimal contact from Luiz, not a penalty but I’ve seen Howard Webb (yes we have the infamous Howard Webb refereeing) given something similar before. That’s the thing with a referee like him, I never know what to expect now that he’s made that handful of super controversial calls. And then a few minutes after, Hulk bursts into the box and gets pushed off the ball a bit by Isla but goes to ground way too easily. Seriously though, not cool both teams, stop trying to get help from the ref and score your own goals.

Run Sanchez run!

Brazil gets a series of freekicks and corners and it was off one of these corners that they get a bizarre goal. Neymar takes the corner and at the far corner Chile’s Jara tries to put it over while Luiz tried to get it in the net and it ends up going in. They first gave it to Jara as an own goal, but then gave it to David Luiz and even after watching the playback it’s a bit unclear who got the last touch on it. Whoever’s goal that was, David Luiz certainly claimed it after he ran around getting hugged and kissed by teammates.

The ‘hard to tell who scored’ goal.

David Luiz and his bouncy curls claim the goal.

The next 15 minutes or so should be called the Alexis Sanchez game because it was all him. He made a couple excellent attacking runs into Brazil’s territory, only to be stopped by their defence. It didn’t help that no one in a red shirt seemed like they were in a world cup game and tried to help their teammate out. Of course it’s no surprise in the 32nd minute that Sanchez was unmarked from a throw-in and hit the ball behind Cesar. He deserved that goal for all the hard work he’s put into the game.

The goal from Sanchez.

Chile really perked up in the second half, galvanized by their equalizer. Brazil just wasn’t as sharp as they were before, which wasn’t that sharp for this match to begin with.

Some pigtail pulling there.

Hugely controversial call by… you guessed it Howard Webb in the 55th minute when a long ball finds Hulk in the box and he puts it in. However, the ball in initially hit Hulk’s upper arm/shoulder, and there was a bit of control with it so it was ruled a handball. Really good catch there linesman!

Creative bondage style sports taping on Gary Medel.

Chile breathe a huge sigh of relief and continue to attack, though some of the wind has been taken out of their sails. It doesn’t help that Brazil has been getting increasingly aggressive, in fact there were a couple of challenges, especially by Thiago Silva and Fernandinho that should’ve been booked as yellows which weren’t. I find that Howard Webb has two extremes, the card happy end and the allergic to cards kind, this was the latter.

The rest of the game can be summed up with two glorious misses. One by Brazil when Fred tries to slot a pass close range to Jo who was like 3-4 yards from the goal but couldn’t slot it in. And at the other end nearing the end of extra time when Pinilla thunders a shot on goal and it thunks against the bar.

Off to penalties we go!

They flipped the coin and surpringly even though Chile won, they chose to go second. Big mistake in my opinion, going first gives you the psychological edge that the other team has to “catch up”. Anyways, most of the penalties were kind of terrible, low and not very powerful shots.

The Penalties went like this:
Brazil 1-0 Chile: David Luiz scores
Brazil 1-0 Chile: Pinilla misses
Brazil 1-0 Chile: Willian misses
Brazil 1-0 Chile: Sanchez misses
Brazil 2-0 Chile: Marcelo scores
Brazil 2-1 Chile: Aranguiz scores
Brazil 2-1 Chile: Hulk misses
Brazil 2-2 Chile: Diaz scores       OMG TIED NOW
Brazil 3-2 Chile: Neymar scores
Brazil 3-2 Chile: poor Jara misses AND BRAZIL WINS!

Happy Brazil players!

Poor Alexis Sanchez, he was man of the match for me and it wasn’t enough for his team D:

And that’s it for Chile at this World Cup, better luck next time!

-Cindy