World Cup 2014 Matchday 16: Colombia to face Brazil in quarters

Live Match Centre | World Cup Stats | Best World Cup quotes URUGUAY 0-2 COLOMBIA: click here to read the match report Full-time: Colombia never gave Uruguay a chance and frankly speaking, a fightback from behind was near impossible for Uruguay without Luis Suarez. James Rodriguez’ genius fired them in front and an early goal in the second half ensured that there was no looking back from there on. Colombia will now meet Brazil in the last eight and from what we’ve seen of the hosts today — it’s not going to be an easy ride. GOALLLLLLLL!!! It is Haaamezzz Rodriguezzzz! 50 minutes Talk about a team goal – James Rodriguez starts off the move, clipping a ball to the left where the deep cross is cushioned back in by Cuadrado into that man Rodriguez’ feet and he sweeps it home. That’s his fifth in four games and Cuadrado’s fourth assist. 2-0 now. Halftime - cagey, slightly boring but punctuated with a lightening strike Uruguay have sat deep and waited for Colombia to make a mistake so that they can hit them on the break. But Colombia have hardly put a foot wrong and Uruguay, even though they’ve had a few half chances, have not really threatened. It would have been a very boring half had it not been for Rodriguez’ phenomenal strike to give Colombia the lead. GOALLLLLLL!!! Oh my what a strike James Rodriguez! 28 minutes Incredible, incredible, incredible. James Rodriguez chests a loose ball down about 20-25 yards out, twists towards goal and hits a first time shot with his left foot as the ball comes down – it’s hit the underside of the bar and gone in. Unstoppable from the 22-year-old star who has four goals in four matches now. Colombia trouble Muslera with first real shot of the match - 14 minutes Cuadrado gets a couple of yards from about 30 metres out and isn’t shy of shooting – the ball bounces just ahead of the keeper and luckily not a hint of yellow is in the box to collect the rebound. https://twitter.com/WorldCupPosts/status/482982495726477312 Uruguay roughing up Colombia - 7 minutes Two blatant fouls already and it’s no surprise game-breaker Arevalo Rios is involved in one of them. Colombia could have made more of both freekicks but they’ve not really threatened from them. https://twitter.com/AUFseleccion/status/482925325178130433 Uruguay XI: Muslera; Godin, M. Pereira, Gimenez, Caceres; Rodriguez, A. Pereira, Arevalo, Gonzalez; Cavani, Forlan. Colombia XI: Ospina, Zapata, Yepes (c), Sanchez, Armero, Aguilar, Gutierrez, Rodriguez, Cuadrado, Zuniga, Martinez Final score: Brazil beat Chile 3-2 (1-1 FT) on penalties PENALTY SHOOTOUT - Brazil’s 1st penalty - David Luiz: To the right and sends the keeper the other way - GOAL! - Chile’s 1st penalty - Pinilla: Straight to the keeper - SAVED! Brazil’s 2nd penalty - Willian: My word that has rolled wide… very wide. MISSED! Chile’s 2nd penalty - Sanchez: To Cesar’s right and it’s low and it’s SAVED! Brazil’s 3rd penalty - Marcelo: Keeper goes the right way and gets a hand to it but the shot has too much power - GOAL! Chile’s 3rd penalty - Aranguiz: Top corner, keeper’s left. GOAL! Brazil’s 4th penalty - Hulk: Hits it straight and low but Bravo’s got his legs to it! SAVED. Chile’s 4th penalty - Diaz: Straight down the middle and GOAL!! It’s 2-2 with a shot to go. Brazil’s 5th penalty - Neymar: A stuttering run and goes to the keeper’s left with Bravo diving the other way. GOAL! Chile’s 5th penalty - Jara: Goes for perfection and Jara’s shot thunders the post and it’s out. MISSED! BRAZIL HAVE WON THE SHOOTOUT 3-2 Those spaces are left empty on purpose. It’s time… Pinillaaaaa and it’s off the bar! 119 minutes Pinilla and Sanchez play a neat one-two and Pinilla hits the bar with a vicious shot! Two minutes later the final whistle blows – it’s time for the penalty shootout. Chile cramping up as Brazil look for one last chance - 118 minutes Gary Medel is off after too many cramps and Mena also needs some stretching after a challenge. Brazil are finding more space but only because Chile’s defenders are standing and staring – just closing down spaces. Neymar still being roughed up though. To his credit, the Brazil No 10 does not complain. https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/482953740270305280 Jo missing - 107 minutes Neymar crosses from the left and Jo is sliding towards it but sees Gary Medel steal it just in time. The corner comes in from the same side and this time Jo’s header is over. Neymar looks perplexed. https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/482952042605215744 Hulk is absolutely killing it - 105 minutes Stepover, man down - stepover, man down - space found - boom - saved. Hulk has been Brazil’s best attacker out there. After his mistake for Chile’s equaliser, he has been impeccable. Maybe wants to make things right. Oscar’s header is just too weak - 100 minutes Cross comes in from the right and Oscar who has drifted to the left and is off position gets a free header at the far post which is just too tame. Goalkeeper says thank you very much. And we go into extra-time Chile get a corner in added time and it’s gone across the face of goal with no player, Brazilian or Chilean, brave enough to get near it. The clock runs down and we’re into extra-time. https://twitter.com/BBCSporf/status/482942937056411648 What a save Claudio Bravo!! 84 minutes Hulk, this time on the right, collects it without using his hands outside the penalty area, executes a trick which takes out three defenders and unleashes a powerful strike towards the top corner — but Bravo is having none of it — he dives and keeps it out stylishly and then saves the cross which comes in from the first save’s rebound too. Neymaaaaaaaarrr… no! Saved again - 80 minutes Long through ball for Neymar and he’s beaten his marker in the air again but the header is straight at the keeper! Either side and this match was done and dusted. Incredible. Jo!! Agonizingly close - 75 minutes Hulk puts in a gleeful ball from in between two defenders from the left and Jo just has to touch it to score at the far post – and he doesn’t touch it. Meanwhile, Ramires comes on for Fernandinho. What a save Julio Cesar! 64 minutes It’s almost like pinball as Chile work the ball into the box with Isla, Vidal and Aranguiz involved — and Aranguiz’ stunning first time drive is saved by Cesar. That was amazing. What reflexes for a man who plays for Toronto FC. https://twitter.com/kbalakumar/status/482937581961629696 Fred and Vargas off - 63 minutes Vargas is off for Gutierrez and Jo comes on for Fred. https://twitter.com/Soccerpolitics/status/482937335428816896 Hulk scores but it’s handball! - 54 minutes Hulk chests down a long ball and finishes brilliantly – the celebrations are on – but turns out he didn’t chest it down, he used his hands. Interesting that. Aranguiz almost gives Chile the lead! And then it’s HT Another steal deep in Brazil’s half and Sanchez slips in a lovely ball to Aranguiz whose attempt is blocked by a combination of Luiz, Silva and the goalkeeper. Dani Alves’ rocket tipped over - 42 minutes He loves doing this and he does it again — takes a long range effort without warning and the keeper is aware enough to tip it over. That was going in. Neymar almost! 36 minutes Oscar crosses in from the right and Neymar jumps higher than his marker but heads it into his shoulder - the deflection enough to take it out for a corner. That header was on target - boy oh boy this is some match. https://twitter.com/BeardedGenius/status/482926973128548352 EQUALISER! Sanchez! 32 minutes Tell you what… Brazil give the ball away deep in their half from a throw-in and Vargas robs it from Hulk’s poor touch, play it to Sanchez in the box and the Barca man executes a perfect finish – the ball almost went into the net in slow-mo. 1-1, get in! Neymar launches himself off Vidal’s body - 28 minutes Vidal strongly blocks Neymar, but the lithe Brazilian is fast and light enough to bang into him and fly a couple metres into the air and land on his head. All’s well though. GOAAAALL! Jara own goal (everyone thought it was Luiz) ! 18 minutes Thiago Silva flicks on a corner from Neymar from the left and David Luiz has Jara under pressure at the far post — everyone thought the Brazilian had his first international goal but it’s been given as a Jara own goal. Penalty shout! 14 minutes Neymar and Hulk execute a perfect one-two (Neymar’s flick and turn-around was just wow) and the latter is in the box and about to pull the trigger before tumbling down. Howard Webb says no – and there was too little in it anyway. Sanchez cross almost reaching Vargas - 10 minutes Sanchez gets space on the right and puts in a lovely low cross which Vargas almost taps in — before falling and complaining that he was pulled down. Marcelo wide from distance - 6 minutes Luis Gustavo wins a corner on the left and Hulk has whipped it with pace, the clearance falling to Marcelo who does a neat trick to get the ball on his left before trying to curl it in. About a metre wide that one. Brazil XI: Julio César, Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo, Fernandinho, Luiz Gustavo, Hulk, Oscar, Neymar, Fred Chile Xi: Bravo; Silva, Gary Medel, Jara; Isla, Aranguiz, Diaz, Mena; Vidal; Alexis Sanchez, Vargas https://twitter.com/henrywinter/status/482907086914068481 Chile have qualified for the knockout stages for the fourth time in history. In each of the three World Cups in which they reached the knockout phase (1962, 1998 and 2010), they were eliminated by Brazil. So this essentially is a match-up in which Chile will have to not only fight Brazil, the crowd but also the overwhelming weight of history. And in doing that, they will have to focus on Neymar, who has recorded eight goals in his last six appearances for Brazil. He has been the engine for a Brazil team that has at times failed to impress. [caption id=“attachment_1593491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Neymar is going to be key for Brazil. AP[/caption] If the World Cup jinx wasn’t enough… Brazil are unbeaten in all their 27 home matches against Chile (all competitions), recording 21 wins and six draws. Brazil have won eight of their nine competitive matches on home turf against Chile. They only failed to win in 1922, when the nations drew 2-2 in the Copa América group stage. Meanwhile, Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar has had to make just 1.67 saves per 90 minutes at this World Cup, the lowest save rate of all goalkeepers. So perhaps the Brazil defence isn’t as bad as everyone thought it is. Of course, there is another game on tonight – Uruguay vs Colombia. But most of Brazil couldn’t care less about that game. It will, however be interesting to see how Uruguay cope without their talisman Luis Suarez. Here’s what you need to watch tonight: BRAZIL vs CHILE The statistics point to one outcome at the Estadio Mineirao: Brazil has never lost to Chile on home soil and hasn’t been beaten by its South American rival in 14 years. On top of that, Neymar is already in scintillating form for Brazil at the tournament. He scored twice in a labored 3-1 victory over Croatia in the tournament opener and struck two more to give Brazil a decisive 2-1 lead in what became a comfortable 4-1 win over Cameroon in its last group game. However, Brazil’s players — and coach — are understandably wary of a dangerous Chile side which has far less to lose than the hosts. “It’s normal to feel uncomfortable and anxious ahead of this first elimination game,” Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “We are a bit more scared and nervous… not only because this one is in Brazil. We know we can’t make mistakes, we can’t lose.” Chile’s 2-0 victory over 2010 World Cup champion Spain at the group stage underlined the potential of Jorge Sampaoli’s team, though a loss to the Netherlands by the same score maybe indicated its limits. Playmaker Arturo Vidal and livewire forward Eduardo Vargas will be the ones to watch in a game which the Chileans are clearly relishing. Vidal is coming back from injury, but there are bigger concerns over a muscle injury sustained by central defender Gary Medel. “We have a historic opportunity to eliminate the hosts,” Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo said. “It’s our longtime rival, one with a lot of titles. It’s up to us to do it.” COLOMBIA vs. URUGUAY Things could hardly be going better for Colombia ahead of this match. Three straight victories and nine goals scored, playmaker James Rodriguez has been outstanding and now Uruguay’s best player, striker Luis Suarez, has been sent home. Even allowing for the absence at this tournament of its star forward, the injured Radamel Falcao, Colombia will be the favorite to reach the quarterfinals. Rodriguez, who engineered the opening two victories over Greece and Ivory Coast but was rested for the first half of a 4-1 win over Japan, will return to the starting lineup. For Uruguay, the loss of Suarez will be damaging — both technically and psychologically. His two goals in the 2-1 victory over England in Group D propelled Uruguay toward to the knockout stage and his presence in the squad as a proven match winner did much for its confidence. By contrast, strike partner Edinson Cavani has been in mediocre form so far at the tournament and will need to step up to the plate against Colombia. Playmaker Diego Forlan, named the best player of the 2010 World Cup, could be Uruguay’s best hope of a victory. All stats via @InfostradaLive, with inputs from AP