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1/8 Final - Brazil-Chile, Brazil breezes past Chile |
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Two goals from Ronaldo and another two from Cesar Sampaio sent defending champion Brazil steaming into the World Cup quarterfinals with a 4-1 defeat of a brave but outclassed Chile on Saturday.
Brazil appeared to by in superb shape and now plays either Nigeria or Denmark -- who meet on Sunday -- in Nantes on Friday.
Neither will have shared quite as much in the fans' enjoyment of the feast of fancy play served up at the Parc des Princes.
The Brazilians led 3-0 by halftime, with defensive midfielder Sampaio scoring twice and Ronaldo converting a penalty as they briskly set about wiping out the memory of their 2-1 loss to Norway in the first round finale.
Only the woodwork in the 66th and 84th minutes prevented Ronaldo, who slotted in his second goal in the 70th, from becoming the first Brazilian to score a hat trick in the World Cup finals since Pele against France in a 1958 semifinal.
Denilson fed the ball through to Ronaldo in loads of space in the second half and the striker took his time to set up a firm, angled right-footed shot past diving Chilean keeper Nelson Tapia.
"In the second half we played the kind of football I like and we will play it from now until the end," Brazil coach Mario Zagallo said.
The two goals lifted world player of the year Ronaldo, who had been through a drought before the finals, up among the leading scorers with three from his four games. Cesar Sampaio also has scored three times.
"Ronaldo improved in the the second half," Zagallo said. "He had more to give. He will live up to expectations in these championships."
Chile's "Sa-Za" partnership of Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano provided their team's 68th-minute goal and Chile could have scraped a second deep into injury time when Zamorano forced a great save out of goalkeeper Taffarel.
The goal saw Zamorano try a header and Salas follow up with a header of his own, a successful rebound shot that pushed his total to four goals for the tournament.
"Considering that Chile qualified for the finals for the first time in 16 years, It's a very positive performance," coach Nelson Acosta said. "Unfortunately, we had to meet a team that is certainly going all the way to final."
Zamorano called the loss "the end of a dream, not of a nightmare."
"We played with dignity and showed we can play on even terms with anybody," he said. "Unfortunately we made some childish mistakes because of lack of concentration.
"I think we were playing very well until Brazil scored the first goal. When a team has players like Ronaldo and Cesar Sampaio, anything might happen, as it happened today."
Cesar Sampaio headed in his first goal off a Dunga free kick in the 11th minute and doubled his tally off another set piece 16 minutes later.
Roberto Carlos teed up a long-range free kick which ricocheted off the wall, Bebeto hit the ball back across the goal and Cesar Sampaio rifled in the diagonal shot.
He, too, could have scored a hat trick but he fluffed a golden chance in the 54th minute when Roberto Carlos found him at the post and he could not control the ball in time.
Goalkeeper Tapia had a miserable first half, picking up a booking and conceding a 45th-minute penalty when Ronaldo went sprawling over him as he rushed out to cover.
French referee Marc Batta pointed to the spot. Tapia got a touch of Ronaldo's shot with his left hand but it was not enough to prevent the striker's second goal of the finals.
It was possibly a harsh decision, one of several questionable calls that included Rivaldo escaping completely in the second minute for a fierce tackle on Chile's Fernando Cornejo.
Brazil's Leonardo get a yellow card for a straight-leg tackle on Miguel Ramirez in first-half stoppage time. The Chilean was replaced by Fabian Estay for the second half.
Chile, which reached the second round with three draws and has not won in the tournament since 1962, when it reached the semifinals but lost 4-2 to Brazil, started promisingly but quickly ran up against a Brazilian juggernaut.
Ronaldo's Inter Milan teammate Ivan Zamorano, who embraced the Brazilian as they left the field, tried a header in the third minute and Miguel Ramirez cracked a long-range blast high in the 23rd minute, but Brazil held firm at the back.
A minute's silence was observed -- more or less by the noisy Brazilian fans -- before the kickoff for former Chilean Football Federation president Juan Goni, who died on Saturday.
The Chilean and FIFA flags flew at half mast.
