Brazil V Chile World Cup 2014

Brazil V Chile Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Top bets on today’s game: Brazil V Chile

Yes I am going to stick my neck out and go for Chile today. They definitely have the strikers to cause serious damage to a very slow minded Brazilian defence. Why can’t they get the win? They have already come out of a very tough group, knocking out the World Champions, and scoring freely and playing good football. Brazil, on the other hand, left it until the last game to top their group, despite playing very a weak Croatian and Cameroon team, and just about surviving a scare against the plucky Mexicans. They havent looked good at all. Only Neymar can safe it for them today, and the ref.

Four South American teams today with dodgy defences equals a lot of goals, get on that for a double!

Sneaky pound on Chile to win Wcup at 25/1.
Chile/Colombia win double 12.3/1
A Sanchez to score a/t 16/5
Neymar to score a/t 8/13
And over 4 plus goals in both games 10.5/1
All odds with PP

Full betting previews, read here>

Good that Sanchez at least got me a goal to get my money back. Chile could have won it in at the death of normal time, were very unlucky but these are the breaks you get, you win some you lose some. Well done to Brazil on winning in the end.

Beers: Round of 16 Beer World Cup:

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-last-16/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Luckily for us both beers matched their teams results so we have Skol Lager V Nomade Scotch Ale. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers.

Get the beer result after, much after!

Skol Lager V Nomade Scotch Ale: 0-2. Gave the win to Nomade as an ale it is always going to come out victorious over a light lager, no contest really. Sorry Skol, nice and all that you are, but its sweetness versus an ale tasting of traditional and smoked malts. Skol is a lovely beer that goes down very well, nice taste not bitter, and very very sweet. A nice looking beer too, decent head and appearance, with an lovely aroma of sweet corns, grain and hay. All very nice but I as said against a good ale it wont win. Nomade with its interesting fruity and malty aromas, a taste of sweet malts with hints of grapes and smoked malts. And a small bitter aftertaste that wasn’t overwhelming. And by the end Nomade was the alcohol that was strongest in terms of power for your buck. Victory to the plucky Chileans.

PreGame:

Brazil have never lost at home to Chile in 26 meetings covering 95 years, which is an amazing stat when you think about it. But Chile are in this World Cup to make history, and it is one hell of a strong team team that Brazil will be facing today.

Fernandinho has finally nailed down that starting role in midfield, impressing in the victory against Cameroon, also chipping in for an excellent goal. He will be a big asset in midfield for the Brazilians.

Neymar will have the pressure on him again today, the whole of Brazil will be on his young shoulders. He scored two nice goals in the last game, four in total in the competition and has dragged this team into the second round. Whatever Messi can do for his team, Neymar can do for Brazil.

But its the other end that’s the big worry for Brazil. If the likes of Cameroon and Croatia can score against them playing not very well, I cant see how they will be able to keep out Alexis Sanchez and co. They had four long years to make a team, and, frankly, this team look rubbish when defending.

I am looking forward to seeing Fred up front again. No footballing reasons just that its comical watching him walk around the pitch, hands on hips, hoping to get a knock down for a lucky goal. This is NOT what Brazilians forwards are all about!

This game will be the mother of all battles. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Chile knock Brazil out, as they have played some wonderful attacking football so far in a much tougher group. But with the crowd behind them and Neymar on form Brazil will also have a good chance of making the last eight. Should be a cracker.

Chile: Jorge Sampaoli has done a fantastic job with the Chilean team, instilling a new formation that pushes the players at all times. Passing and moving are the key to this Chile team, passing and moving with electric pace. When it works, its brilliant to watch, and very hard to contain.

Of course you need the players for this positive system to work, and luckily Chile do. Vidal, Diaz, Sanchez and Vargas, an attacking quartet that will be tough for the Brazilians to contain today. Will be very interesting to see how that works for the Brazilian defence who looked poor so far in this years World Cup.

The only negating factor is the Chileans can be very temperamental. If they lose the head things could go pear shaped very quickly. In the Netherlands game, they preferred to roll around the ground than play football, only managing one whole shot on target against the very physical Dutch, which is pretty pathetic when you think about it. They need to fully concentrate today and not be drawn into any physical encounters that could disrupt their rhythm.

The game should be a great spectacle and a match they can very much win. It certainly will be an intriguing tie. Hopefully.

Wow what a game, what a great spectacle, what an atmosphere, what tension. Brilliant box to box football, from the start of the match right up to to the penalties in the end. That was some game. Well done to Brazil for emerging victorious in a very tricky encounter with Chile.

Match report a bit haphazard as there was so much to write and say! So apologies on that!

David Luiz, of all people, managed to get on the score sheet, getting Brazil off the mark in the first half, with a majestic shot off his wobbly knee. Brilliant. He also had a good all round game, coming forward when required with incisiveness, and solid at the back when a calm head was required.

Bravo in the Chile goals is an excellent shot stopper and had a good game overall. But I do want to criticise him though for not catching the ball, punching it, which lead to the corner that Brazil scored from. Catch the bloody ball, its what you are expected to do as a goalie, especially when there was no one around you to hamper you. Weak effort and stupid. This drives me crazy when goalkeepers make these simple mistakes, and, I will say it again, it is the small percentages that make teams win or lose games! Goalkeeper catches the ball, danger alerted. Simple! He did pull off a few good saves otherwise, saving a brilliant Dani Alves shot that swerved badly, repelling a Neymar header that went close, and stopping a few of Hulks pile drivers. Overall he had an excellent game, and he is a top class goalkeeper, but please can you catch crosses?

Then there was the equalising goal from Alexis Sanchez. From a Vargas pass Suarez, using the defender as a shield, drilled a low shot past Cesar. A very clever goal and put Chile immediately back in the game.

The fall of Hulk in the box in the first half, initially looked like a penalty but on closer inspection it looked like a dive by Hulk. Top marks to the officials on this occasion. But they were not so good on the goal decision in the second half. Hulk looked to have given Brazil the lead with a beautifully crafted goal, but it was struck off for a very light handball. Now as it was an English referee the British tv stations were praising Webb to the hilt, but I am not so sure. I think it was a very bad call as the benefit should be given to the striker in these occasions especially when the so called hand ball was very very light, barely noticeable. I think it should have stood. But overall the officials did well, in what was a very intense game, they had to be on alert throughout. Seven yellow cards in the game tells its own story. This game was a very bruising encounter from both teams. The tackles were flying in all through the game and I am amazed no one was sent off. Howard Webb had a good game overall, as both teams, especially the Chile team, were very cynical with their foul play. Webb needed eyes at the back of his head for some of the fouls.

The disallowed goal had an amazing effect both on the team and the crowd. People in the stands went very quite and the players looked shell shocked. There was a period of about twenty minutes where Brazil were playing in zombie mode, aimlessly wandering around the pitch chasing Chilean shadows. They were in meltdown. Chile really had them under the cosh for a good part of the game, and gave Brazil no let up, always pressing with or without the ball. The work ethic of the Chilean team was immense. Vidal on the wing, Suarez in the middle, and Silva at the back. But with all this possession they still did very little with it in the final third of the pitch. Brazil had more chances with their more direct style. Chile play a bit like Spain, tiki taki, but on steroids. In extra time the Chileans switched from an attacking 3-1-4-2 formation to a more defensive 5-1-3-1 and looked to be happy for the game to go towards a penalty shootout. Bad call.

Neymar had an alright game by his standards, but to be fair to him was marked very tightly by Silva who held him up a few times, and also thwarted a few of his shots on goals, getting his neck, legs, body in the way in his battles with Neymar. Neymar did have those chances though.

All the time this game was going on, Fred was playing his own little game of spot the donkey. How he keeps getting away with it is funny. He had the most shots in the first half, but failed to get one on target. One memorable piece was a Neymar shot well saved by Bravo and Fred lumping the follow up way over the bar. Once again it take the best part of an hour for Scolari to haul him off. I would love to see him play against the likes of Germany or France. Cant play against these teams with 10 men, no way.

But then Jo who came on didn’t look that much better either. Well I say that, but he did at least work up a sweat. Jo should have got on the score sheet but just failed to connect with a Hulk cross, just out of his reach. In the later stages of the game, he also looped a header just over.

Marcelo had a cracking game managing a very nice shot in the first half. He is a player that never gives up, shows great spirit, and was active down the wings with probing balls into the Chilean half of the pitch. A very good second half plus extra time. Pity as I still wouldn’t put him in defence though!

Hulk’s performance was up there too, a stand out game. He had numerous good shots well saved by Bravo, was unlucky with the disallowed goal, and put in many good crosses that on another day someone would have scored from. As the game went on he game actually seemed to improve, and he definitely deserved to be on a winning team. His work rate was excellent. We will forgive him his penalty miss.

Then just at the end, Pinilla hits the crossbar for Chile with a magnificent shot in the final minute of extra time. My heart stopped a beat, but it didn’t go in, and the whole of Brazil let off a collective sigh of relief. Phew, that was close!

For the penalties, it fell to the star striker Neymar to step up under intense pressure and calmly slot home. But it wasnt over until Jara of Chile seen his shot come off the post to send Chile out and Brazil through. A nation relieved to be still in this World Cup, but it was close, too close!

Goalkeeper Julio Cesar was the hero of the match, doing two crucial spot-kick stops, and making many good saves throughout the game, particularity near the end of normal time when he pulled of a world class save to deny Aranguiz from close range.

I think overall Brazil definitely deserved to win the game, as they were the team that kept looking for the winner till the very end. I do hope that they can recover, both emotionally and physically, in time for their next game against Colombia, another all South American tie. And in what should be played in another high tempo end to end fashion. Bring it on. Love it.