Final, 1-1 (Brazil wins shootout 3-2): Brazil is moving on to the quarterfinal after defeating the valiant Chileans.
Brazil is exhaling after holding its collective breath for three hours. Chile was united, focused and committed to fighting to the death, which is exactly what it did. The game was tied after 120 minutes, and only half the diamater of the ball separated the two teams.
Brazil will be delighted to advance to the quarterfinal, but its sloppy passing and wayward shooting is major cause for concern. The games will become tougher from here, and Brazil’s opponents will punish it if it doesn’t create and convert more scoring chances.
Scolari and the host nation will worry about that later. For now, it is celebrating the narrowest of victories over its South American rival.
Brazil will face the winner of Uruguay-Colombia, which kicks off later on Saturday.
That’s all for now, and thanks for joining us. Let’s discuss this one on Twitter @NESNsoccer and Facebook. Be sure to keep an eye out for some news, fan reactions, analysis and opinion that is on the way on NESN.com.
Penalty-kick shootout: Jara hits the post in Chile’s last penalty kick, and Brazil wins the shootout and advances to the quarterfinal.
Neymar scores for Brazil after a jittering run-up to the ball.
Diaz scores, and the shootout is tied at 2-2 with the fifth penalty-kick takers preparing to shoot.
Bravo saves Hulk’s penalty kick, and Chile is still alive.
Aranguiz scores for Chile, planting his shot into the roof of Cesar’s goal.
Marcelo scores his penalty kick. Bravo guessed the right way and got his hand on the ball but couldn’t keep it out of the goal.
Cesar saves Sanchez’s penalty. The Chilean attacker didn’t strike the ball cleanly.
Willian rolls his penalty kick wide of the goal. Chile now has a chance to even it up.
Cesar saves Panilla’s penalty kick. Brazil has the early lead in the shootout.
Luiz converts Brazil’s first penalty kick with a powerful shot. Bravo dove in the wrong direction.
The players are under immense pressure, and Brazil’s goalkeeper Cesar was crying ahead of the shootout.
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120th minute, 1-1: The stalemate continued through 30 minutes of extra time, and penalty kicks will determine which team becomes the 2014 World Cup’s first quarterfinalist.
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120th minute, 1-1: Panilla eludes Silva and unleashes a shot from the top of Brazil’s penalty area that beats Cesar but bangs off the crossbar.
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119th minute, 1-1: Chile is holding on for dear life, and it looks like this one’s headed for penalty kicks.
113th minute, 1-1: Brazil is controlling play, but Chile is defending with 11 men, making it hard for Brazil to find space in its third of the field.
108th minute, 1-1: Chile is forced to make a change, removing the inspirational center back Medel and bringing on Jose Rojas.
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Medel has fought through a knee injury during his team’s World Cup journey. Medel was stretchered off the field but stood and limped to the bench when he reached the sidelines.
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107th minute, 1-1: Jo heads Neymar’s corner over the crossbar.
106th minute, 1-1: The second half of extra time is underway.
Brazil made a substitution during the break, replacing Oscar with Willian.
105th minute, 1-1: That’s the end of the first half of extra time.
The first half of extra time was all Brazil. The host dominated possession, pinned Chile in its own half and created a number of scoring chances against its determined, but tiring, opponent.
105th minute, 1-1: Alves is cautioned for an unnecessary foul on Panilla.
103rd minute, 1-1: Hulk looks to break the deadlock with a shot from 35 yards out, but Bravo denies him with a diving save.
102nd minute, 1-1: Panilla is cautioned for a cynical foul on Luiz.
101st minute, 1-1: Oscar heads Hulk’s cross on goal, but Bravo is there to make another save.
100th minute, 1-1: Medel makes a crucial block on Jo’s sliding shot.
95th minute, 1-1: Diaz fires his free kick wide of Brazil’s goal.
93rd minute, 1-1: Jo kicks Bravo in the hand, as both players were going for a ball in the air.
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Bravo avoids major injury, and Jo is cautioned. Both are lucky to avoid worse fates.
91st minute, 1-1: Extra time is underway.
Brazil must improve its passing in order to limit Chile’s counter-attacking opportunities.
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90th minute, 1-1: The second half is over. The game is headed to extra time.
There will be two, 15-minute halves. If the score is tied after 30 minutes of extra time, penalty kicks will determine the winner.
Brazil has the advantage heading into extra time. It traveled fewer miles during the group stage, and Scolari rotated his team more than Chile head coach Jorge Sampaoli, who relied on a smaller pool of players to reach this point. It also has its home crowd roaring it on.
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90th minute, 1-1: Chile is taking the game to Brazil in the closing stages of the second half.
The Chileans are pinning Brazil deep in its own half, and only the timely interventions of Silva and Luiz prevented Chile from shooting on Cesar’s goal.
90th minute, 1-1: There will be three minutes of added time in the second half.
87th minute, 1-1: Mauricio Panilla replaces Vidal for Chile.
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86th minute, 1-1: Chile seems content to hold possession in midfield and wait for Brazil to apply pressure. The lull in the action is frustrating Brazil’s fans, but it gives Chile a brief respite, as the prospect of extra time looms large.
84th minute, 1-1: It’s another great scoring chance for Brazil, but Bravo turns away Hulk’s powerful shot.
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81st minute, 1-1: Neymar puts a flashing head on goal, but it goes straight to Bravo, who saves comfortably.
76th minute, 1-1: Now Hulk shoots well wide of Bravo’s goal.
Brazil is paying a heavy toll for its wayward shooting against Chile.
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74th minute, 1-1: Now Jo misses a golden chance from six yards out.
Hulk crossed to Joe at the far post, but the Brazil striker failed to make contact with the ball.
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72nd minute, 1-1: Ramires replaces Fernandinho in Brazil’s midfield.
Ramires could offer Brazil more energy and attacking thrust in the center than the largely static Fernandinho provided.
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70th minute, 1-1: There’s no telling which way this game will break in the final 20 minutes (or more).
Chile is making life difficult for Brazil with its tremendous work-rate and commitment to defending as a unit. Chile’s pressing is preventing Brazil from sustaining any possession, so the game is evolving into one in which the teams look to win the ball high up the field and counter-attack right away. Chile does this by design. Brazil is being compelled to do so.
64th minute, 1-1: Cesar keeps the score level with an outstanding reflex save on Aranguiz’s point-blank shot.
64th minute, 1-1: Jo replaces Fred as Brazil’s central striker.
60th minute, 1-1: Gustavo is cautioned for a foul on Vidal.
The Brazil midfielder will miss the quarterfinal due to suspension, should his team advance.
56th minute, 1-1: Chile brings on Felipe Gutierrez for Vargas.
Gutierrez, a midfielder, should help Chile maintain some possession in the middle third of the field, but the move could make Chile less dangerous on the counter-attack.
55th minute, 1-1: Hulk appeared to score Brazil’s second goal, but the referee disallows it because the Brazil forward used his arm to bring the ball under control before shooting.
Click here to see Hulk’s disallowed goal.
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The referee then cautioned Hulk for the offense.
49th minute, 1-1: Fernandinho shoots wide, as Brazil launches the opening salvo in the second half.
46th minute, 1-1: The second half is underway.
Halftime, 1-1: That’s the end of the first half. The score is tied.
It was a strange but entertaining first 45 minutes. The game has been fiercely competitive, as we expected it would be, but it lacked rhythm and quality throughout.
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Nevertheless, both sides have managed to score, setting up a tense second-half that could explode into one of the World Cup’s signature games.
45th minute, 1-1: Brazil has largely controlled the game since Sanchez’s goal, but it nearly concedes right before halftime.
Aranguiz breached Brazil’s defensive line inside the penalty area, but Luiz and Fernandinho recovered in time to block his shot.
43rd minute, 1-1: Alves shoots from distance, and Bravo makes a back-pedaling save to keep the score level.
40th minute, 1-1: Silva is cautioned. The yellow card rules Silva out of the quarterfinal, should Chile defeat Brazil.
39th minute, 1-1: Brazil continues to pressure Chile, and it would have resulted in the go-ahead goal if Fred hadn’t shot over the crossbar from six yards out.
The Brazil striker has many critics. This miss will add to their ranks.
35th minute, 1-1: Neymar’s header deflects off of Silva and goes out for a corner kick.
Brazil came close to retaking the lead.
32nd minute, 1-1: Alexis Sanchez has tied it up.
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It was the result of some sloppy play deep in Brazil’s half. Hulk failed to control Marcelo’s throw-in, and Vargas picked up the loose ball, passed to Sanchez, who was wide open inside Brazil’s penalty area. All Sanchez had to do was compose himself, and shoot past Cesar, which he ably did.
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30th minute, 1-0 Brazil: Neymar is down after a challenge from Vidal.
Neymar made the most of the contact and landed awkwardly, but the referee declined to caution Vidal.
26th minute, 1-0 Brazil: Neymar outruns Chile’s defenders while dribbling into their penalty area, but the Brazil star scuffs his shot.
18th minute, 1-0 Brazil: Chile’s Gonzalo Jara has put Brazil in front with an own goal.
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Thiago Silva flicked Neymar’s corner kick to the back post where Jara and Luiz were positioned. The Chilean defender flicked his leg out and redirected the ball into the goal.
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17th minute, 0-0: Mena is cautioned for a hand-ball. The Chile defender will be suspended for the quarterfinal if Chile advances.
13th minute, 0-0: The referee denies a penalty appeal. Hulk went down easily after Isla appeared to make contact with him in the penalty area.
12th minute, 0-0: The game has had a fast and competitive start but hasn’t amounted to much.
Niether team has managed to establish a rhythm to its play or sustain possession early on.
Sixth minute, 0-0: Marcelo’s powerful left-footed shot sails wide of Bravo’s goal.
Third minute, 0-0: Aranguiz is down after a robust tackle by Fernandinho. The Chile midfielder can continue, and Fernandinho is lucky to have not been cautioned.
First minute, 0-0: Brazil-Chile is underway.
Kickoff: After a rousing set of national anthems, the game is set to begin.
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Pregame: Here are the lineups:
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11:30 a.m. ET: The knockout rounds of the 2014 FIFA World Cup kick off Saturday when Brazil faces Chile in a Round of 16 game at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Brazil reached the Round of 16 by finishing first in Group A. Chile’s second-place finish in Group B earned it a date with Brazil — the popular pick to win the entire tournament.
But Brazil isn’t taking its South American rival lightly. After the World Cup Draw in December, head coach Luis Felipe Scolari said that he feared Chile could cause problems for his team.
“I’d prefer any other side,” Scolari said, according to FIFA.com. “They’re an awkward team to play. They’re organized, and their system doesn’t fit in with ours. They’re intelligent and a good side.”
Scolari admitted that some Brazilian players were showing signs of nervousness ahead of the Chile game. Brazil must shake those feelings, as Chile proved itself to be as good as Scolari predicted during its three group-stage games. Brazil has reached the quarterfinal of every World Cup since 1994, and an exit at this stage would be nothing short of a national disaster in Brazil.
From this point on, it’s “win or go home” at the 2014 World Cup.
The game kicks off at noon. Stay right here for all the action.
