Brazil prevailed over Chile, 3-0, in a Round of 16 showdown in Johannesburg of two stylish South American sides.  With an organized defense, Brazil counterattacked against an overeager Chilean team and cruised for a relatively easy 90 minutes. The win for Brazil sets ups a mouthwatering quarterfinal meeting with the Netherlands Friday in Port Elizabeth.  Brazil worked its game plan to perfection to start the game, absorbing Chile’s early advances while looking for an opening of its own. That chance came in the 34th minute, when Juan found himself free in the box to head in a corner kick from Maicon, putting Brazil ahead, 1-0.  Just three minutes later, with Chile trying to muster a forceful response, Brazil scored again on a perfectly executed counterattack. Robinho started the play with a striding dribble down the left side, before passing to Kaka, who was trailing the play down the middle. Then, with one touch, Kaka released Luis Fabiano into the box, and the striker just had to dribble past Claudio Bravo, Chile’s keeper, to double Brazil’s lead.  Robinho added a goal in the 59th minute, after Ramires made a slicing dribbling run through the heart of Chile’s defense. The defensive midfielder, having done all the work, laid the ball perfectly to Robinho, waiting at the top of the box, who curled a shot inside the right post.  Chile struggled to create chances all game, and was frustrated time and again by the stacked lines of Coach Dunga’s defensive formation.  Chile has now lost its last eight matches against Brazil.  Read on for an account of how it all happened.  Michel Bastos, another player who had a fine match for Brazil, gets forward into the box from his left back position but he toe-pokes it wide.  And there’s the final whistle! Brazil wins 3-0! It wasn’t always pretty for them, but now the Brazilians get to face the Netherlands in the quarterfinal.  It’s a disappointing loss for Chile, but few teams could have handled Brazil today.  We’ll be back in a few minutes with a full recap. Meanwhile, share your thoughts in the comments section below. Can you live with a more conservative Brazil if it keeps winning games like this? What could Chile have done differently today. Who played well? Who didn’t?  The Brazilian fans in Johannesburg are utterly enraptured. There’s shot after shot on television of happily dancing supporters.  Ramires gets an open look, but he shoots high and wide. He had a great game. It’s a shame he’ll be suspended for the quarterfinal against the Netherlands after picking up that unnecessary yellow card.  Beausejour shoots wide right of the goal. Chile worked the ball around the top of the box, and Valdivia made the final pass, but there wasn’t much an angle to work with there. Brazil is keeping its shape extremely well.  Robinho is off for Brazil. Gilberto is on. All smiles and handshakes on the Brazilian bench.  Nilmar heads a ball well over the crossbar. Bastos had found him free in the box with a curling cross from the left flank, but he couldn’t get his forehead on the sweet spot.  Kleberson is on for Kaka.  Kaka had a relatively quiet match, besides setting up Luis Fabiano’s goal, but he’s got a huge smile on his face. His team’s going to the quarterfinal!  and it hits the crossbar! A corner from the left side fell to Suazo’s right foot. He took a wild swing at it and shanked it, but it bounced over Julio Cesar and off the top of the bar.  Brazil’s defending has been really, really impressive. This is one of the best team performances of the tournament so far.  Robinho gets a great chance to score on a breakaway, but his shot from the right side of the box is saved by a diving Bravo. Tough angle for Robinho there. The ensuing corner is cleared by Chile.  A minute later Suazo of Chile has a shot saved on the other end. Julio Cesar makes an athletic diving stop, on a ball that may or may not have been headed toward goal.  Nilmar enters for Luis Fabiano. He’s an exciting player to watch.  Valdivia is looking to be the creator for Chile, but Brazil is shutting down his passing lanes so quickly every time he gets the ball.  Tello takes a short corner for Chile, but it amounts to nothing.  Ramires picks up an unneeded yellow for chopping down Sanchez at midfield. That’s an unnecessary place to pick up a card, and now Ramires, who did all the work for Robinho’s goal, has to miss the next match.  Chile is throwing five and six men forward in the box, as it must do.  Brazil, meanwhile, is playing keep-away whenever it gets the ball. I think we’ll see another goal or two in this game.  Oh! Valdivia volleys from the top of the 18-yard box but he blasts it over the bar. He had plenty of time, and he should have done a better job placing it.  Dani Alves unleashes a swerving shot from 40 yards out. It just misses over the right end of the crossbar. Jabulani!  Isla is subbed out for Chile. Rodrigo Millar is on in his place. Things are looking bad for the team in white.  Ramires picked up the ball at midfield and made a beautiful run through the heart of Chile’s defense. He lays the ball off to Robinho, who curls a one-touch shot inside the right post. Beautiful stuff!  Robinho earns a corner for Brazil, after Lucio tackled to win the ball in his own end and ran the length of the field with it. What other central defender does that? The corner is wasted.  Again, it’s not the prettiest soccer for the Brazilians at the moment — passes are a bit off, and there’s not much movement. But the scoreline is far in their favor.  Chile is working hard to work the ball toward Brazil’s goal, but there’s so little space to work with. Brazil is packing it tight.  And when Brazil has gotten the ball, it hasn’t looked overly eager to get forward.  You guys leaving comments are correct. Brazil won its fifth title in 2002, not 2004, like I erroneously wrote in my pregame thoughts. Thanks!  There’s so much debate about Dunga’s new, defensive Brazil. But how can you argue with how Brazil played in the first half? The players clearly retain all their creativity, but its expressed in a controlled manner and at appropriate times. And on the defensive side, they’ve looked really hard to break down.  Chile has a lot of work to do. What kind of offensive magic can Coach Marcelo “El Loco” Bielsa conjure up in the second half?  There’s two halftime changes for Chile: Jorge Valdivia is on for Mark Gonzalez and Rodrigo Tello is on for Contreras.  Chile came out attacking (too much perhaps?), and Brazil picked its spots to take advantage.  Juan put the Brazilians ahead in the 34th minute, when he rose up uncontested to knock in Maicon’s looping corner kick past Bravo and just under the crossbar.  Three minutes later, with Chile pressing forward in numbers, Brazil put together a piece of classic counterattacking play: Robinho started the move down the left side, with a few long, striding dribbles, before passing a square ball to Kaka trailing down the middle. Kaka, with one touch, set Luis Fabiano free in the box, and all he had to do was dribble around the keeper to score. Chile’s defenders through it all were running backwards, utterly helpless.  Possession in the first half was basically even, with Chile keeping the ball 51 percent of the time. Chile took seven shots.  Brazil took nine and made them count.  Chile is struggling to respond here.  Brazil is showing a lot of swagger now, swinging the ball around the field, as its players make crisscrossing runs.  One minute of added time.  The game was tight, tense and tentative until the first goal, which blew play wide open. Brazil’s second goal was textbook counterattacking play, taking advantage of Chile’s intent to equalize.  Luis Fabiano has 28 goals in 42 games for Brazil. That’s his third goal of the tournament.  Luis Fabiano scores for Brazil! Robinho starts a sweeping counterattack on the left side. He passes to Kaka, who lays off a perfect one-touch pass down the middle to Luis Fabiano. All the striker has to do is run around the keeper to score.  2-0! Joga Bonito! Pretty stuff from Brazil!  Juan scores for Brazil! He rose up to meet a looping corner from Maicon. There were no Chileans near him, and he popped it over Bravo. It’s 1-0 Brazil!  goes to Kaka, who tripped Vidal with a kick on the shins. Chile’s free kick, from about 30 yards out, is wasted.  In the 25th minute, Lucio, Brazil’s captain, has some words with Fuentes, who climbed on his back to try to reach a corner kick from Suazo. A foul was called on the play, but Webb tells Lucio to calm down.  Then Lucio — a center back, mind you — earns a corner for Brazil on the left side, with a tricky dribbling move.  On the ensuing corner Lucio makes another tricky move with the ball in the box and gets tripped by Contreras, but there’s no call! That could have been a penalty!  with a hard tackle and sends Sanchez through, but his early shot is ill-advised.  Sanchez has yet to score in this tournament. He’s an exciting player and has done everything but put the ball in the net in three games so far.  Brazil, so far, is settling for shots from the outside. It’s hard for them to push too far forward, because Chile looks so willing to pressure them in the other direction. The Chilean’s willingness to attack in numbers is an admirable trait, which could produce an exciting match for us neutral observers.  The play is still a bit sloppy and tentative, but all the intent seems to be there, for both sides.  Ramires, Brazil’s defensive midfielder, takes a shot from 25 yards out. It’s a dipping effort that falls right into the arms of Bravo, Chile’s keeper.  There isn’t a player on Brazil that would pass up a chance on goal, it seems.  Times reporter Jeff Z. Klein, who more and more seems to prefer Spanish commentary, tells me that this is how Univision’s play-by-play man Pablo Ramírez called Luis Fabiano’s early miss:  “¡Luis Fabia… No! ¡Luis Fabia… No! ¡Luis Fabia… No!”  Suazo, meanwhile, takes a weak shot for Chile that Cesar saves easily.  A corner for Brazil from the right side in the eighth minute. Dani Alves takes it, and its cleared by Carmona for another corner, this one on the left side. Gonzalez clears that one.  Then Gilberto Silva forces Bravo to make a diving save! He shot a curler from 30 yards out. Another corner, and that one’s cleared as well. Brazil is on the front foot here, as they say.  Chile, we’re told, last made the quarterfinal in 1962.  Brazil can’t get the ball out of its own half!  Cesar is called into action on a couple of early crosses.  Then Luis Fabiano gets sent through on a long ball from Robinho, but he drags his shot wide to the left.  In the first minute, Beausejour earns Chile an early corner kick on the left. Suazo takes it short, Sanchez ends up with it atop the box, but his shot is blocked.  Chile looks determined, if two minutes of play can tell us anything.  Chile kicks off! Game on!  Be sure to chime in below with your own thoughts and comments. This should be a great match.  The teams make their way onto the field, which appears at first glance to be in good condition.  The anthems are played, first Brazil’s, and now Chile’s.  Brazil is in its traditional canary yellow shirts and blue shorts. Chile is in all white.  Howard Webb of England. The 38-year-old former police officer did well in his first two games, Spain-Switzerland and Italy-Slovakia. He refereed the Champions League final last month.  Webb is sure to have a lot of eyes on him. Referees, as always, have been under the spotlight this World Cup.  The winners of this match get to face the Netherlands, which produced another workmanlike performance to top Slovakia earlier today. The losers head to the airport, where they’ll pass the time doing Sodoku and crosswords, like normal people.  Kaka and Robinho are back in Coach Dunga’s starting lineup. Contrary to what had been widely reported, Elano will sit out another game with his ankle injury. Here is how the Brazilians will start the game:  GK: Julio Cesar; DEF: Maicon, Lucio, Juan, Michel Bastos; MID: Ramires, Gilberto Silva, Dani Alves, Kaka; FWD: Robinho, Luis Fabiano.  As usual, their exact positions, particularly going forward, are more fluid than these designations might suggest.  GK: Bravo; DEF: Isla, Contreras, Jara, Fuentes; MID: Vidal, Carmona, Beausejour; FWD: Sanchez, Suazo, Gonzalez.  These player are tasked with turning it around for Chile, which has lost seven straight matches against Brazil. The Chileans were outscored in those games, 26-3.  With one hour to go, I’ll add my own two cents to Mr. Longman’s fine pregame assessment…  Brazil has won the World Cup five times — in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002 — always with a stubborn devotion to beautiful play. But if they claim the trophy again this year, it will be with a markedly different philosophy.  The team continues to produce an attractive brand of soccer — the raw talent of its players ensures that. But Coach Dunga has also instilled in his squad a sense of pragmatism, an idea that “winning and losing” can supersede “how you play the game.” For a Brazilian, such talk borders on blasphemy.  Dunga fired a warning to his squad last week when he suggested the established international soccer power structure was coming undone: “Forget the notion of traditional teams,” he said. “If you don’t play well, you’ll be eliminated.”  Those words could embolden Chile, which faces an uphill task in this South American showdown.  Jere Longman writes in from Ellis Park in Johannesburg to set the scene for this match:  The winner of tonight’s Brazil-Chile match will advance to face the Netherlands in a quarterfinal Friday in Port Elizabeth.  Chile has been remade into a swarming, attacking team under Coach Marcelo Bielsa. But it has struggled mightily against Brazil, losing the last seven times they met while conceding 26 goals. Chile lost both World Cup qualifying matches to Brazil, by 3-0 at home and 4-2 away. It has also lost both World Cup meetings to Brazil – 4-2 in the semifinals in 1962 and 4-1 in the second round in 1998.  Chile will attempt to do against Brazil what it could not do in its final group match against Spain – charge forward without leaving itself vulnerable to the counterattack. But Bielsa, an Argentine, will be without two defensive starters in Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce, who have received yellow-card suspensions. And counterattacking is Brazil’s speciality.  “They are always a team to be feared,” Bielsa said of Brazil, but he also promised, “We will play an all or nothing game.”  Expected to start at forward is Humberto Suazo,who led South American scorers with 10 goals in 18 qualifying matches. But Suazo has played little over the last two months while recovering from hamstring and shoulder injuries and it remains to be seen what kind of stamina he will have, especially at altitude.  Brazil will have the services of playmaker Kaka, who is returning from suspension, and will also have forward Robinho and midfielder Elano back in the lineup after they missed the final group match against Portugal with injury.
Live coverage and analysis of the World Cup Round of 16 game between Brazil and Chile in Johannesburg.