The Favorites Hold Serve Again

Since the title of today's post obviously doesn't refer to Andy Roddick (goddamn it), you can assume I'm talking about the favorites in the round of sixteen. The only result that could be possibly be considered an upset was Ghana's win over the United States and I have a tough time believing that was much more than a toss-up in most people's books. Yesterday we had perennial powerhouses Germany and Argentina taking care of business and today we would find out if Holland and Brazil could do likewise. Unsurprisingly, they managed.


Slovakia vs Holland

Slovakia did have a great chance early on in the 2nd minute when Erik Jendrisek got open at the top of the 18 and put his shot just over. Unfortunately for Slovakia, it would be their only opportunity of the first half as Holland dominated the rest of possession and got the majority of the chances. The first of these chances came in the 7th when Dirk Kuyt picked Robin Van Persie out with a perfect cross, but Van Persie wasted Kuyt's good play by mistiming the header. He made up for it in the 11th minute when he made a good run through defenders and then laid the ball off to Wesley Sneijder, who wasted his chance by shooting right at keeper Jan Mucha. He made up for it in the 18th minute when he played a perfect one time ball up from the back that Arjen Robben ran onto in space. Robben crossed his defender over and took the ball towards the center of the field, ripping a left footed shot past Mucha and inside the right post. Fantastic pass by Sneijder to start Robben on the break and a superb bit of skill from Robben to beat his defender and get off a shot, with an assist to Van Persie for making a smart run behind Robben to draw a potential defender on Robben away. Great play by the Dutch and they looked to be in a strong position to take the game over.

The Dutch held possession for the rest of the first half, but really just knocked the ball around rather than going hard at the Slovaks. They were very patient in their passing and only looked to seriously threaten once or twice. In the second half however, they ramped up their pressure and started actively seeking the second goal that would, in all likelihood, put them through to the next round. In the 50th minute, Robben made a run almost identical to his goal scoring endeavor by cutting to the inside only this time his lefty shot was aimed at the back post and Mucha was forced to make a fantastic save. Robben was at it again in the very next minute, only this time he was working on the left wing before putting a ball into Van Persie who promptly hit a sprawling Mucha in the face with his shot. It was amusing to hear the announcers talk about the great save the keeper made when in reality he got struck in the face, but it was his good positioning that saved him (sort of) and kept Slovakia in the game.

Mucha's teammates made the most of his heroics by finally getting some shots on goal to test Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg. In the 67th, Miroslav Stoch made a Robbenesque run across the top of the 18 and put a high shot on goal that Stekelenburg was forced to touch over. Later in the 67th, Robert Vittek received the ball at the top of the 18 in an onside position, turned quickly to face goal and clear his defender, then calmly took his shot on net. His poise in this situation was excellent, but Vittek put the shot too close to Stekelenburg as the keeper made a fantastic save with his top hand as he went to ground, anticipating a low shot. Great reaction save by the Dutch keeper, but as well as he did to take his time, Vittek has to give the keeper no shot and just bury that in a corner. Holland made them pay for wasting their chances in the 84th minute when Kuyt beat Mucha to a ball out wide on the left (perhaps Mucha's only mistake of the match), then settled the ball and waited for the filling runs, feeding Sneijder perfectly so that all he had to do was pass the ball into the back of the net. Kuyt showed great hustle and composure on this shot and Holland was into the quarterfinals. Slovakia did bring the game back to a one goal margin in the 94th when Vittek converted on a well taken penalty kick, but it was too little too late as that was to be the match's last play. Some comfort for Vittek though, as that goal made him the all time goal scoring leader in Slovakia. Unfortunately, it was as his team was knocked out of the World Cup.

Holland 2 - 1 Slovakia


Chile vs Brazil

This match had the chance to be an exciting up-and-down match with plenty of chances for both sides as Brazil has all the skill in the world while Chile loves to play a fast paced, attacking brand of soccer. Rather than the tense contest some of us were expecting, we were instead shown exactly why Brazil is considered the best team in the world. Brazil dominated this match in terms of possession and chances and still didn't look like they were finding their highest gear yet, as they were content to play the ball around for much of the first half and only looked to attack when they had an obvious path to goal. Early on they settled for shots from distance, like in the 8th from Gilberto Silva that Chilean keeper Claudio Bravo was forced to make a diving save on, and in the 12th from Ramires that Bravo did well to smother and not let a rebound free on. Brazil's patience paid off in the 34th when Juan made his run behind three other Brazilian runs to get free and got his head on the end of a Maicon corner kick to bury the ball just underneath the crossbar. Great out-swinging ball from Maicon and a fantastic run and even better header from Juan. Brazil put the game seemingly out of reach just a few minutes later in the 38th when Robinho made a run down the left and passed into the middle for Kaka who quickly played the ball through to Luis Fabiano. Fabiano smartly touched the ball around the keeper and then calmly finished to put Brazil up by two and cap a fantastic sequence of passes.

Brazil kept applying the pressure and never let Chile see the ball for long enough for CONMEBOL's second place qualifiers to get into a rhythm. Alexis Sanchez and substitute Jorge Valdivia were able to make some interesting moments with their surges forward, but Brazil was defending way to well and was in command of the match. Brazil put the game firmly out of reach (as if it wasn't out of reach already) on a counter run by Ramires who set up Robinho at the top of the 18, dead center. Robinho wasted no time and hit a disgusting one touch shot that curled around Bravo and swung back inside the post for Brazil's third goal. Great surge forward by Ramires to do the dirty work but this is all about Robinho's brilliant shot which almost no keeper would have had a shot at. It's hard to say this about any keeper who gives up three goals in a match, but it's hard to envision Bravo playing any better. Yet Brazil is that good and still won 3-0. Humberto Suazo provided some entertaining moments for Chile after the Robinho goal, but nothing could be done about being down 3-0 to Brazil as the five-time World Cup champions steamrolled their way to a quarterfinal match-up with Holland.

Brazil 3 - 0 Chile


It's hard to look ahead with tomorrow's excellent Portugal vs Spain and Paraguay vs Japan matches, but I'm already drooling in anticipation over Argentina vs Germany and Holland vs Brazil. It may be an elimination round marked by the advancement of the favorites so far, but that's fine as it makes for some incredible matches along the way. Couldn't be happier with the quality of play so far and I'm already looking forward to what comes next.