Brazil 3-0 Chile
Disappointingly one sided this one. Brazil were never in trouble and the three nil scoreline doesn't go anywhere near to underlining their complete and utter superiority over their fellow South Americans. A quarter final with the Netherlands will follow and it's beginning to look very difficult to back much else than a South American hegemony in the semi-finals. Of course the Dutch will have a say in that, and the Germans and probably, hopefully, Spain will too.
The vital stats of this encounter were 3 goals from Brazil which started with Juan's towering header from a right wing corner on 34 minutes. Just four minutes later some clever play from Kaka saw Luis Fabiano being released to finish coolly. Robinho effectively put the tie out of the Chileans' reach with a fine finish to cap Ramires's barnstorming run on the hour mark. For (because of) all the hype which surrounds Brazil I do find them somewhat underwhelming. It's almost like we're told by the great and the good that they play football the way it's supposed to and we should all enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, when they score a great goal, like Luis Fabiano's first against the Ivory Coast I feel a surge of adrenaline like any other red blooded male but moments like that seem to be punctuated by some pretty tame stuff. I think that's partly why Chile so disappointed me today. I really would have liked to see them go at it a little more, in the manner of their qualification for WC2010. Hey ho...
