BRAZIL continue their quest for a second straight Copa America with a quarter-final clash against Chile tonight.
Tite's side cruised through the group stages with four straight wins and have the all-important home advantage for this one.
CASINO SIGN UP OFFER: GET £10 FREE BONUS WITH NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED
- Kick-off time: 1am
- TV channel: BBC Red Button
- Free live stream: BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport website
- Brazil XI: Ederson; Danilo, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Renan Lodi; Richarlison, Fred, Casemiro, Gabriel Jesús; Firmino, Neymar
- Chile XI: Bravo; Isla, Sierralta, Medel, Mena; Vidal, Aránguiz, Pulgar; Alexis Sánchez; Vargas, E. Vegas.
- Nyle Smith
TOO HOT TO HANDLE
There's one way of stopping Neymar, by fouling him.
Francisco Sierralta helping to Neymar to his feet after fouling the Brazilian - Nyle Smith
BRAZIL 0-0 CHILE
7. No they can't.
Easily dealt with by Claudio Bravo.
- Nyle Smith
BRAZIL 0-0 CHILE
6. First corner to Brazil.
Can they produce some magic here?
- Nyle Smith
BRAZIL 0-0 CHILE
4. The Brazilians are just popping it around so elegantly. Chile can't get anywhere near them at the moment.
That quartet of Firmino, Neymar, Jesus and Richarlison is so dangerous.
- Nyle Smith
BRAZIL 0-0 CHILE
2. Kit check.
Chile are in their changed strip of white, red and blue.
And do I even need to mention what jersey Brazil are in?
Yep, it's the infamous golden yellow one.
- Nyle Smith
REMINDER
If after the full time whistle both teams are still level, there will be no extra time played until the final game of the tournament so this match in particular would be decided by penalties.
- Nyle Smith
BRAZIL 0-0 CHILE
1. Party time people as this huge South American derby kicks off.
Will the 9x Copa America winners live to fight another day or can Chile knock out the holders of the competition?
Keep refreshing everyone because I got the feeling that this game could be entertaining.
- Nyle Smith
PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
PATRICIO LOUSTAU LET’S THE BATTLE COMMENCE!
- Nyle Smith
ONE MINUTE SILENCE
Both sides have gathered on the pitch to do a one minute silence in honour of those who have lost their lives to COVID-19.
You're gone but will never be forgotten.
- Nyle Smith
COPA AMERICA FACTS
Brazil had a 30 year absence in hosting Copa America until 2019 where they lifted the trophy and they impressively managed to do it without their superstar Neymar.
However with the PSG forward back in the squad, it boosts their odds up even more to not only secure a tenth title but to successfully defend it for the first time since the 2004 and 2007 editions.
On the other hand Chile have completed the double more recently than Brazil (2015 and 2016).
But that has been the only times La Roja have been successful so they’ll be desperate to grab their 3rd in under a decade.
- Nyle Smith
GOLD FROM SILVA
Brazilian captain Thiago Silva spoke about his seven year defensive relationship with Marquinhos at Paris Saint-Germain.
And the Chelsea defender left a short but sweet heart felt quote buried in his press conference.
He fulfilled his dream of playing with me and I certainly fulfilled that dream of playing with him.
Thiago SilvaCBF_Futebol
- Nyle Smith
BRAZIL BRILLIANCE
Below is a 3 minute clip of the 5x World Cup Champions best moments up to this stage at the tournament.
I kept on rewinding the video to nine seconds I’m telling you, you’ll enjoy it.
- Nyle Smith
KUNG FU FIGHTING
Nothing special to see here other than Neymar attempting to fly kick the semi-final door down.
- Nyle Smith
JUST MAR-VELLOUS
Would this even be classed as the build up to a Brazilian match without a separate segment on Neymar?
The Paris Saint-Germain star is an icon off the pitch but he also knows a thing or two about entertaining football fans on the field as well.
Before the Brazilian magician made his first major move from Santos to Barcelona in 2013 he was solely renowned for his trickery on the ball and his fancy footwork.
But as Neymar’s career has progressed, the PSG attacker has started to add goals to his game which is why only Pele stands in his way as Brazil’s all-time top goal scorer (Neymar 68) (Pele 77).
He had a disappointing season at club level this year having failed to hit double figures in Ligue 1 and PSG weren’t able to retain the league title either.
However, Copa America has been good to the 29-year-old so far having currently scored two goals and constructed two assists in the competition.
Check out Neymar’s stats for PSG from the 2020/21 campaign.
- Nyle Smith
JUST MAR-VELLOUS
Would this even be classed as the build up to a Brazilian match without a separate segment on Neymar?
The Paris Saint-Germain star is an icon off the pitch but he also knows a thing or two about entertaining football fans on the field as well.
Before the Brazilian magician made his first major move from Santos to Barcelona in 2013 he was solely renowned for his trickery on the ball and his fancy footwork.
But as Neymar’s career has progressed, the PSG attacker has started to add goals to his game which is why only Pele stands in his way as Brazil’s all-time top goal scorer (Neymar 68) (Pele 77).
He had a disappointing season at club level this year having failed to hit double figures in Ligue 1 and PSG weren’t able to retain the league title either.
However, Copa America has been good to the 29-year-old so far having currently scored two goals and constructed two assists in the competition.
Check out Neymar’s stats for PSG from the 2020/21 campaign.
- Nyle Smith
ESTADIO OLIMPICO NILTON SANTOS
The venue for the South American derby was only built between the years of 2003-2007 and it is located in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
Nilton Santos is mainly used for football matches and it is currently the home stadium of football club Botafogo.
However the stadium was completed just on time for the Pan American games in 2007 and it then went on to host the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
For an arena which hasn’t been around for long, it sure has had its fair share of hosting major events.
Let’s hope Brazil and La Roja do it some justice tonight or this morning depending on where you are tuning in from.
Isn’t she beautiful? (Not Tite, the stadium in the background)
- Nyle Smith
COPA AMERICA SCHEDULE
Peru await either 5x World Cup Champions Brazil or 2x Copa America Champions Chile in the first semi-finals after beating Paraguay in a penalty shoot-out earlier on today.
On the other side of the knock-out rounds which is set to take place later on tonight and early Sunday morning, Argentina come up against Ecuador.
And the winners of that game will face the winners of Uruguay vs Colombia.
It’s all to play for in Copa America 2021.
- Nyle Smith
RED HOT CHILE
The Chileans haven’t been firing on all cylinders in this year’s Copa America, but they have scored some spicy goals.
Take a look for yourselves.
- Nyle Smith
CHILE CURRENT FORM
La Roja didn’t have the worst group stage campaign but they most certainly didn’t exceed expectations either.
Martin Lasarte’s men played out their skins against the Argentine’s and Uruguay holding them both to a 1-1 draw.
Chile also dealt with Bolivia albeit the score-line didn’t tell the story because La Roja completely dominated that match.
Their only major hiccup came on the final round of the group stages where Chile suffered a surprising 1-0 defeat to Paraguay.
It makes sense for the Chileans to have an inconsistent Copa America form because in their 10 matches prior to the competition, they had won three, lost three and drawn four.
- Nyle Smith
BRAZIL BACKLOG
Despite placing third in the charts for the most successful team in the Copa America history books, Brazil’s incredible roster of talent landed them as favourites to retain the title.
And once it was announced that the tournament was set to place in the back-yard of Verde-Amarela, it boosted their chances even more.
In addition to that, prior to the competition, Brazil had won seven games on the bounce scoring an average of at least two goals per game and only conceding two throughout, both coming against Peru.
So it was no surprise to see the 5x World Cup winners comfortably secure top spot in Group B at Copa America winning three and drawing their final game where the head coach Tite made multiple changes to the starting XI.
- Nyle Smith
THIRSTY MUCH?
Neymar is thirsty for some water whilst the rest of us are thirsty for some football.
- Nyle Smith
HEAD-TO-HEAD
As mentioned earlier, Brazil and Chile haven’t met in almost four years and when they did, the 5x World Cup winners brushed past the Chileans with a 3-0 victory.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg because in their 72 games played, Brazil have won a staggering 51 times to Chile’s 8 drawing the rest of the other 13 matches.
Talk about domination.
However, La Roja did pull off an impressive 2-0 win over Brazil in one of their 2018 World Cup Qualifying games and not many people predicted that so the Chileans are still in with a chance.
These are the previous ten encounters between Brazil and Chile.
- Nyle Smith
LAST TIME OUT
It’s been over three years since Brazil and Chile have encountered each other in a football match but the Chileans in particular will want to erase the 2017 fixture from their memory.
The 9x Copa America winners were dominant in Sao Paulo which resulted in Chile missing out on qualification for the World Cup 2018 edition on goal difference.
But the match didn’t seem as if it was going to end that way because neither side had broken the deadlock by the first 45 minutes.
Brazil did apply a bit of pressure but were unable to create any clear cut chances and Chile lacked physical presence up-front without Arturo Vidal who was suspended for the game.
However ten minutes into the second half, Neymar’s free-kick was parried back into the danger zone by former Manchester City keeper, Claudio Bravo and Paulinho was first on the scene to tap in the rebound.
The 5x World Cup Winners then doubled their lead only two minutes later when Neymar plucked a delightful through-ball from the sky before unselfishly squaring it to strike partner Gabriel Jesus for him to get his name on the scoresheet.
At this point the Chileans were still in the hunt for a World Cup qualifiers spot but it looked as if they were going to have to do it by beating New Zealand in a play-off match.
But a late equaliser in the other game involving Peru and Colombia followed by a stoppage time dagger in the heart from Gabriel Jesus sealed La Roja’s fate once and for all.
- Nyle Smith
CHILE SQUAD NEWS
The mystery on Alexis Sanchez’ calf injury which he picked up before the tournament is solved because the Inter Milan forward is back and has been put straight in the firing line.
It was reported that Sanchez wouldn’t make the group stages and he could potentially be fit for the knock-out stages which has evidently happened.
However, Guillermo Maripan is unfortunately still an absentee in the squad which is a huge blow for Chile because he has been one of their stand out performers of the competition.
The defender was diagnosed with a micro-fibrillary tear in the rectus anterior of the right leg which means that he will have no further participation in the competition.
However it’s good to see his defensive partner Gary Medel back in the team despite being substituted early against Paraguay.
- Nyle Smith
CHILE BENCH
12 Arias, 23 Castellon, 3 Valencia, 5 Roco, 7 Pinares, 9 Menses, 14 Galdames, 19 Alarcon, 21 Palacios, 22 Bereton Diaz, 25 Nunez, 28 Baeza
Source: Read Full Article