On Saturday evening in Belo Horizonte, the knockout stage of the World Cup will begin. In the first quarter-final match, the hosts Brazil faced the Chile national team.
From the very beginning of the match, led by Luis Felipe Scolari, the Brazilians set a high pace. Supported by a large number of their own fans, the team pressed the Chilean footballers, also not shying away from committing fouls.
Despite that, Jorge Sampaoli's players were able to organize sharp counterattacks, but the first goal of the match fell into Claudio Bravo's net.
In the 18th minute, after Neymar's corner kick, Thiago Silva headed the ball in the penalty area, and soon he found himself in the goal when David Luiz sent him into the net.
Brazil did not stop attacking their opponents: several times their biggest star Neymar demonstrated his speed, but either he failed to shoot accurately, or the Chilean defenders successfully prevented him from doing so.
However, after the Chilean efforts to attack crossed the Zenith in the first half, their attacking efforts also bore fruit: in the 32nd minute, Eduardo Vargas intercepted the ball on the right flank and passed it to Alexis Sanchez in the penalty area, who easily beat the opponent's goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
After the equalizing goal, the hosts of the tournament put pressure on the opponent's goal even more, but despite their efforts, the result after Howard Webb's whistle for halftime indicated that the score was 1-1.
In the second half, the pace of the game decreased slightly, and from the beginning of the second half of the match, the Chilean national team visited the opponent's half and the penalty area of J. Cesar more often.
A little later, halfway through the second half, the initiative was taken by the Brazilians, and even L.F. Scolari's players were able to regain the advantage, but Hulk's goal was not counted as the match referee detected a handball.
In the last 10 minutes of regular time, the Chilean national team regained the initiative, but neither they nor the Brazilians were able to expand the lead during the main time of the match, so the teams prepared for extra time.
During extra time, the Brazil national team demonstrated that they had saved more strength, so from the very beginning the initiative was in their hands.
Despite that, L.F. Scolari's players did not create one hundred percent chances in the first half hour, and at the end of the second extra-time period, Mauricio Pinilla almost sent the tournament hosts out of the tournament, but his shot hit the crossbar.
The teams stepped up to take penalty kicks, which started favorably for Brazil: the first shot by David Luiz hit the net, and J. Cesar saved M. Pinilla's attempt.
However, later Willian missed the goal. However, the second penalty kick of the series was not enough to equalize the result for A. Sanchez.
Defender Marcelo stepped up to take a penalty kick, which he easily scored against C. Bravo. The first successful penalty kick for the Chile national team was scored by Charles Aranguiz.
It seemed that everything was going in a positive direction for the Chileans: C. Bravo saved Hulk's shot and after a poor start to the series, they finally managed to equalize the score.
However, Neymar thought differently and sent the ball into the net, while Gonzalo Jara's shot hit the crossbar, meaning that the Brazil national team is advancing to the tournament quarterfinals.
Brazil 1 - 1 Chile
(Penalty shootout: 3 - 2)
18' [1 - 0] D.Luiz
32' [1 - 1] A.Sanchez
Starting lineups:
Brazil: Julio Cesar, Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Fernandinho, Marcelo, Hulk, Fred, Neymar, Oscar, Luiz Gustavo
Chile: Bravo (c), Mena, Isla, Silva, Sanchez, Vidal, Vargas, Medel, Jara, Aranguiz, Dias
