Half an hour into the World Cup’s second round, Brazil found their rhythm.
A hammer-strike header. A pinball-style counterattack. An explosive run followed by a clinical finish — Brazil’s soccer orchestra was playing in true harmony on Monday for the first time in the tournament.
Coach Dunga said there’s still much to improve, but he must have been encouraged by what he saw in the 3-0 win over Chile at Ellis Park.
PHOTO: AFP
Chile are no pushovers. They earned their place in the second round with victories over Switzerland and Honduras and a 2-1 loss to European champions Spain.
Against Brazil though, coach Marcelo Bielsa’s team never had a chance.
“It was likely our best match so far,” said Maicon, who struck the corner kick that set up Juan’s powerful header for 1-0. “We did well against a team that had been playing well so far in the tournament. It was important to show that we can come up with a good performance when needed.”
Until the Chile match, Brazil had been a letdown for its samba-dancing and demanding fans, who don’t just want to see Brazil win — they want to see Brazil win in style.
The team struggled to beat North Korea 2-1, improved in a 3-1 win against Ivory Coast but were held to a disappointing scoreless draw against Portugal.
The Brazilians appeared to be heading for another lackluster performance at Ellis Park, creating few moments of danger in the first half hour save for a long-distance shot by Gilberto Silva.
It all changed with Juan’s opening goal. Bielsa made two substitutions at half-time and a third 17 minutes into the second half as Chile pushed for an unlikely comeback. But they struggled to find ways past Brazil’s defense, while Dunga’s team seemed to come close in every other attack.
Brazil and Chile split possession and the Brazilians just narrowly outshot their opponents, 17 to 15. Still, Chile never lacked precision in decisive moments, unlike Robinho, who scored his first goal of the World Cup after a dazzling run by Ramires.
“It was made perfectly clear today that there are distances between the big teams and our team,” Chile’s coach said. “Perhaps the result could have been narrower.”
“But generally speaking, we can say that the superiority of Brazil was too much for us. We were unable to slow them down,” he said.
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