Match date: 28 June 2014

Brazil came into the match having topped Group A, which they were expected to do being the host nation, while Chile were able to make it out of Group B, despite the fact that Spain and the Netherlands, the winners and runners-up from the 2010 World Cup, were in it.

Scolari picked his strongest XI, dropping Paulinho for Fernandinho, with the side continuing in a 4-2-3-¼-4-1-1, with Neymar continuing to play in the number 10 role.

Sampaoli brought Vidal back into the side, having given him a break in the match against the Netherlands, thus giving Chile their strongest starting XI as well. They continued in their 5-3-2/3-4-3.

Both Sides Press

With the World Cup being hosted in South America, a match against two South American sides, including the host nation in Brazil, was always going to make for an energetic contest. Against Spain, Chile showed their excellent ability when pressing the ball. In that match, they made Spain’s best passers look worse than average, and in the end, won the match 2-0. They continued to do so against Brazil and the host nation responded with their own high energy pressing. Brazil won the ball back far more in Chile’s half than Chile did in Brazil’s, but they were unable to make the most of their counter-pressing. Both sides failed to complete even 80% of their passes.

While it is usually a good thing to see one of the sides pressing well in a match, as it keeps the energy high, when both sides do it, and do it relatively well, it makes it hard for a good game of football to be played. There were very few times where either side really put together good spells of possession or had good, intricate, patient play around the opposition’s penalty area. Instead much the match was full of sloppy passing and the centre backs on both sides looking to bypass the midfield and find the forward directly, which also did not work as the midfielders struggled to support their respective strikers quickly enough.

When a side pressed well, the opposition has two choices, look to play around the pressing, as Germany did against Portugal in their opening match, or look to play long balls to the striker. While Chile played more long balls than Chile did, Fred was involved in just one aerial dual. Vidal, for Chile, however, was the target man for Chile’s long balls. He hasn’t been in great form this World Cup, having come in far from 100% fit, but he is one the most complete midfielders in the world and during the match would be the highest player for Chile.

Alves Narrow, Marcelo Wide

One of the interesting things about the match was how narrow Dani Alves and Marcelo were throughout the match. At Barcelona, Dani Alves is usually providing all the width on the right side, while Marcelo, who likes to dribble inside when opportunities arise (like his goal in the Champions League final), usually has to provide the width on the left side at Real Madrid. Interestingly, another Brazilian full back, in Rafinha, played as a narrow full back under Guardiola this season, but was not selection for the national team. Regardless, there were obvious tactical reasons for Alves to find pockets of space in central areas and for Marcelo to play a more traditional role.

The first being that, particularly on Alves’ side, Chile lacked an attacker. Mena would make runs forward, but they were almost always tracked by Oscar, who would also give Brazil width going forward. This allowed Alves to make underlapping runs. Just notice above how far inside Alves was receiving passes, an usual amount for him. Below, you can see how many inside-out passes Alves made rather than being on the receiving end of such passes. Marcelo, however, was forced to stay wide as Sanchez was in a right forward role for the opening 60 minutes of the match, and Hulk struggled to track Isla well enough as times.

Changes

Both managers had good first substitutions. Sampaoli brought on Felipe Gutierrez for Eduardo Vargas, who was on the fringes of the match. With the change though, Sampaoli shifted Alexis Sanchez from right to left, but deeper. This essentially gave Chile a 3-7-0, with both Sanchez and Vidal in the midfield areas, rather than offering much. In terms of getting Chile to gain control of the match, it worked, but they lacked any penetrative movements to add pressure on Brazil’s back four.

Scolari’s first substitution was theoretically good as well. Fred struggled to get involved in the match and lost his only aerial duel, which is meant to be his best attribute, and he struggled to offer any pace to get behind the high line that Chile was playing. In hopes of breaking that high line, Scolari brought on Jo, who should have scored off a cross. Chile simply sat deeper, however, and Brazil failed to really make sure of any space between the lines as both sides tired having played a high tempo match for much of the game.

Conclusion

Chile were inches from winning the match when Pinilla hit the cross bar in the 120th minute, having beat Julio Cesar. In the end, it unfortunately came down to penalties.

Chile will certainly feel hard done to leave the tournament in this fashion, but will view their progress to the round of 16 with a group consisting of Spain and the Netherlands as an achievement. Their fortunes may have been better had Vidal been 100% fit, but Sampaoli got out of the Juventus man what he could.

Scolari has decisions to make in the coming matches. Fred has not been good enough for Brazil and adds very little to their play. His strengths are getting the ball and bringing others into play, but he hasn’t been playing up to those strengths and lacks good off the ball movement. Scolari has to also address the roles of Neymar and Oscar. I mentioned in my analysis of Brazil’s first match that their roles should be reversed. Oscar is much more suited to play in a number 10 role and can add defensive duties in the centre of midfield, while Neymar can thrive from extra space and 1v1 opportunities in wide areas.