July 03, (THEWILL) – Brazil survived a hard-fought quarter-final battle against a relentless Chile with one player short for most of the second half, after a Gabriel Jesus red card, to win by a lone goal and qualify for the Copa America 2021 semi-final at the Estadio Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro.
But for the Lucas Paqueta’s 47th minute goal just before the sending off of Jesus, it could have been a much steeper uphill climb for the defending champions and hosts of the South American continental football competition to progress through the determined Chileans.
Chile performed better in the statistics. Their greater ball possession and incredibly watertight defence kept Brazil hemmed in for most parts of the fixture. Chile, who beat Argentina in 2015 to win this competition, found the back of the net with an equaliser in the 62nd minute only for the offside rule to effectively strike out Eduardo Vargas’ header.
Credit must go to Ederson Moraes, who manned the position between the sticks stoutly for Brazil and the dogged defense that kept the advantage of their slim lead against the numerical superiority of the Chileans, who were hell-bent on finding a weak link to exploit for an equaliser.
The win helped Brazil preserve the record of their unbeaten streak in the year’s Copa and also means that the Chileans have still not been able to fashion a way to beat Brazil in the last five games they have played at the Copa America competitions. Martin Lasarte charges just could not breach the Brazilian backline this time again.
Since November last year, Brazil has kept a rigid structure at the defense which has seen them concede only twice while being creatively prodigious in attack. The Neymar supported frontline has been able to find a goal 18 times in that period and that has helped to keep their title defense challenge on course.
Although Eduardo Vargas and his attack partners Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal did extremely well to create chances especially with the clock ticking down in the final moments of the fixture, the attempts came to naught. Substitute Carlos Palacios tried a final opportunity to shoot but it is a rather poor strike that went way wide.
A series of poor crosses in good spaces did not help Chile’s case either and Brazil held on to close out the game. Tite’s charges will next face Peru in the semi-finals in the same Estadio Nilton Santos on Tuesday, July 6 for a spot in the final.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
