World Cupdate

Four teams through, four more spots left to be earned, and two decided in today's Group E/F action.  First up, the Netherlands versus Slovakia in a battle of styles, the Oranje were sidling up with a 4-2-3-1 attack led by striker Robin Van Persie, while the Repre went with a basic 4-4-2 squad with Jendrisek and Vittek on the attack.  Both teams had early chances but Holland quickly took over the midfield to try to direct the flow of the game in order to avoid the shock early goals that knocked out the USA, England and Mexico.  Slovakia tried to rush but it was Arjen Robben who stuffed in a brilliant long shot on the counter attack taking advantage of an overeager Slovakian squad at 18'.  The Oranje settled down into a control game, daring the Slovenians to go on the offense so that Holland could counter and Robben nearly did it again late in the period.  The Slovaks just weren't up to the task in the first half and the Dutch owned a good three-quarters of the field.  The second half was more of the same, the Slovaks looking unsure and the Dutch owning the midfield.  Finally with time running out the Slovaks went for broke and ran right into the Dutch counter kill on the break that resulted in a Sneijder header at 84' to seal it.  Slovakia got on the board at the bitter end when a penalty call in the box gave Vitter a goal at 90+ 4' but it meant nothing in the end, and the Dutch advanced easily 2-1.

They would meet the winner of the second game, Brazil taking on Chile in a highly-anticipated matchup where finally one of the South American teams that has all but dominated this tournament would be sent home.  The Canarinhos rolled in with a modified 4-4-2 format, led into battle by the familiar pair of Robinho and Luis Fabiano, while Chile rolled out a 4-3-3 attack, with Sanchez, Suazo, and Beausejour up top.  The real problem for La Roja however were that they were without three of their top defensive men due to bookings.  Estrada, Ponce, and Medel were all gone as a result of the ugly win over Spain, and that meant Chile's offense would have to keep them in this.  Early on it was all Chile as they put pressure on Brazil in the first ten, but Brazil absorbed it and the game moved to the midfield, both sides exploding out on breaks only to be cut off (or in Chile's case, to finish poorly). But the Selecao broke the match wide open with a Juan monster header off a free kick at 34' and then Luis Fabiano acoring at 38', and in the space of five minutes Chile's fate had all but been sealed.  They managed to drag themselves off the field before any further damage could be done, but in the second half Chile swapped in an extra striker in Jorge Valdiva and went 3-3-4, all out offense, but all that did was to allow Brazil to counter attack and Robinho drove the stake through the hearts of La Roja with a laser at 59' that finished the deal.  To their credit, Chile refused to go down without a fight...too bad they went down without actually scoring.  Even on a mediocre day the Samba Kings won 3-0 and the Dutch now have to be very, very nervous.