Imperial Brazil shredded Chile tonight at Ellis Park, showing real class in a 3-0 win that arguably could have been wider.
Goals from Juan, Luis Fabiano and Robinho led the South Americans on their way to the quarterfinals.
Probably not.
Brazil showed why they remain the team to beat at this Cup, displaying a mastery of tactics and ample dashes of flair against a Chile team that collapsed once the golden boys found the back of the net.
For half an hour, Chile had matched up well against a team that has embarrassed them so often, attacking the ball well and taking Kaka out of the game. That ended when Inter Milan’s Maicon measured up a corner kick and found Juan alone to head it in. Room had been cleared for the Roma back by Lucio, helpfully backing into a Chilean defender to create space, and Juan’s goal would prove to be a shattering blow.
Still trying to shake off what had happened, Chile failed to mark Robinho, streaking down the far flank three minutes later. He worked the ball inside to Kaka at the top of the defense. Kaka slipped it through to Luis Fabiano who timed his run exquisitely, left two Chilean defenders with their hands in the air in a futile appeal for offside, and rounded Claudio Bravo to score the second. Bravo looked for a moment as if he was willing to topple Luis Fabiano and accept the sending off, but pulled out of the challenge at the last instant.
A long ball out of the back set up the third, with Ramires simply running past four defenders, slotting the ball square to his left, where Robinho curled in a drive to the far corner, making a difficult finish look supremely easy.
Chile played its part in what started out as a tense, tactical battle, but as so often has happened in this rivalry, the Andeans were not able to match Brazil in terms of sheer artistry. The commitment, effort and technical skills were there for Bielsa’s team, but as so often happens on the World Cup stage, Brazil finds another gear when confronted with a worthy challenge. Bluntly, Brazil made a good team look very average — showing you how far above so many teams they truly are.
The Dutch play a type of soccer that could win LEED certification. They waste no energy while getting the job done. An unfortunate side effect of this is that, like the Prius, the Dutch have been rather boring. We could use a little more entertainment and a little waste in a Cup that so far has largely gotten its giggles from the men in the middle.
Slovakia was always over-matched. They were unimpressive in the group stage, eking out a dramatic win against Italy that happened to also be rather poorly played. They can only play one kind of game, and it’s slow. With one of their best players, Zdeno Strba, suspended for today’s game, the Slovaks had little bite, and to all our detriment, the Dutch knew it.
Credit Arjen Robben for at least giving us a moment to hang our hats on. My inkstained colleagues and I would have little to discuss were it not for his 18th minute goal. It was wonderful. Manager Bert van Marwijk smartly played him wide on the right, allowing him to drift in to the center, then blast the ball at the net with his left foot. He only did it once today, but that was enough. Beating three men and leaving Jan Durica for dead, Robben slammed what should have been the winner home before Jan 'keeper Mucha could even get to ground.
Wesley Sneijder added the second, and ultimately critical goal in the 84th when the Slovaks were caught arguing with the ref over a free kick, allowing Giovanni van Bronckhorst to chip it up to Dirk Kuyt. The Liverpool man headed it over Mucha, collected, then passed the ball square to Sneijder for the goal. It was unselfish, smart, and, well, not very sexy. And wasn’t real smart of the Slovaks to form a discussion group rather than defend.
Then, on the last play of the game, Alberto Undiano decided it was his time to shine. You might recall this ref from his performance during the Germany-Serbia match, when he dished out cards like a blackjack dealer and ejected Miroslav Klose. Today, he judged keeper Maarten Stekelenburg to have taken out Martin Jakubko in the box, and pointed to the spot. He was clearly wrong. But, Robert Vittek was happy enough to come up and sink the spot kick to finish his stay in South Africa on a personal high note.
TOMORROW
The knockout round concludes with Paraguay vs. Japan (10am EDT) from Loftus Versfeld and follows up with what is arguably the biggest game of this entire second stage: Spain vs Portugal (230) from Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium.
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Paraguay vs. Japan is a better game than many people think: The Japanese have improved mightily and showed their ability to change games with a rousing 3-1 win over Denmark. Free kicks from Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo stunned the Danes, and then Japan were able to close out the match despite some fierce late pressure. They also took care of Cameroon, a team many thought would be far better than they showed. Paraguay have only won one game — against tepid Slovakia. But, they held Italy to a draw and didn’t need a result on the final day. They may be the weakest of the South American sides on paper, but they’re playing some very concise football.
There’s little to add to Spain vs. Portugal that soccer fans don’t already know. Spain is trying to overcome the recent curse of the European Champion and win the World Cup; Portugal is a flawed team but has the ability to kill you. Both teams are likely to be nervous and tight at the start, but as soon as a goal goes in, expect some flowing football. Could be a classic. And boy, does this World Cup need one.
