Before this World Cup Brazil boss Luiz Felipe Scolari’s greatest fear was facing Chile in the last 16 and that will be the case when the two countries meet on Saturday in the Round of 16, writes Declan Olley (@declanolley).
He told TV Globo’s Esporte Espectacular in December: “I hope Chile don’t qualify. I’d rather play any of the others. They’re a pain to play against. They’re well organized, they’re intelligent, they have a good side.”
Scolari wasn’t wrong about Chile – they have turned out to be one of the teams of the tournament – but his worst nightmare has come true: they will go toe-to-toe with La Roja on Saturday in Belo Horizonte.
“I have played against Chile two times before and I know how difficult a side they are,” Scolari said after his side’s 4-1 win over Cameroon. “Some people think we will beat Chile easily but they are a quality side, well organised.
“If I could have chosen our opponents I would not have chosen them.”
History is on Brazil’s side. Chile have beaten them only once in the past two decades and were dumped out of the 1998 and 2010 World Cups by Brazil – both losses coming at the last 16 stage.
But this Chile team have all the tools to fix their Brazilian problem – and they may have the Netherlands to thank for it.
Their 2-0 defeat to Louis Van Gaal’s side will temper expectations, which had been growing after they dismantled the World and European champions Spain 2-0 at the Maracana. Such was the performance of Jorge Sampaoli’s side people began talking about them as contenders for the trophy.
A win over another World Cup favourite, the Netherlands, and the Chile bandwagon would have gotten out of hand. Thankfully, it did not.
Goals from Leroy Fer and Memphis Depay put the finishing touches to a superbly well-calculated Dutch performance which Sampaoli cried foul over.
“This was the match we expected. Holland had a lot of people in defence and were trying to use the counter attack,” the Argentine moaned. “But we couldn’t find a solution against a team that defended and only wanted to have long shots.
“Hopefully if we will play like that in the next round we will achieve the result we want.”
Sampaoli would not admit it, but he was outthought by Van Gaal, yet he will be wiser for it – teams will look to the Dutch for tactical inspiration but Sampaoli can come better prepared.
But for now he can rest easy, Brazil will not follow in the Netherland’s footsteps; after all, they have a duty to entertain their home support and will be considered favourites to progress.
And this all plays nicely into Chile’s hands: for when they are the underdog they are at their most dangerous.