A narrow escape for a nation and its football heroes

Football is a cruel game, but perhaps a fair one in a twisted manner. . . Chilean hearts were broken whilst an entire nation was saved.

It would have been pandemonium in Belo Horizonte, if the Selecao were knocked out in the Round of 16 yesterday, perhaps providing the final tipping point for what many see as a corrupt regime in charge of national affairs.

No other nation exemplifies its political situation through its football quite like Brazil.

The manner of the victory – slogging through extra time and escaping a last-ditch effort which hit the bar, winning on penalties courtesy of the woodwork once again – showcases the government's ability to escape a complete loss of faith by its citizens time and again.

How much longer can this luck last, on the pitch and off it?

I take my hat off to David Luiz, though. He took the most important Brazilian penalty in history when he stepped up and buried Brazil's first in the shoot-out.

A beacon of confidence, his authority was clear to see as Luiz personally greeted each spot-kick taker after their attempts, offering words of encouragement and pats on the back.

On the other hand, by the end of extra time, we see the figure of Thiago Silva sulking, slouched shoulders when sitting on a football by the sidelines.

His performance had been poor (consistently throughout this tournament as well), and his body language indicated his acknowledgement of this fact.

Every footballer is hurting (and fuming at themselves) after a poor individual performance, but to see the captain of the Selecao in such a state was disconcerting.

The confidence we are so used to seeing from Brazilian captains, such as Dunga and Carlos Alberto, was missing from the PSG man, and Luiz Felipe Scolari will do well to nurse his captain's hurt feelings if he is to get anything out of him for the rest of the way.

Neymar was pounced upon early, and consistently harassed all throughout the match as his effectiveness waned, clearly hobbled by a knock to the knee he received early on.

Hulk, the polarizing forward playing in Russia, was a lively figure all day, terrorising the Chilean defence with strong direct running and powerful shooting.

Chile had Alexis Sanchez in inspired form, playing a free role in the attacking and middle third, tormenting the Brazilian defence.

It was his incisive pass to Mauricio Pinilla which provided Chile with their final chance of the match which stung the crossbar, in the last moments of extra-time.

Rejoice taken away from the Chileans by an unforgiving woodwork.

The destructive but yet composed delivery man, Marcelo Diaz sat in front of the defence and directed play.

Arturo Vidal, a little over a month off from knee surgery was brilliant in the middle of the park, coming off minutes before full-time as he was yet to regain full fitness.

Most impressive of all was Gary Medel, acting in a role not dissimilar to that of a libero in the middle of Chile's three centre-back lineup.

Sweeping up brilliantly as well as consistently winning the ball higher up their side of the pitch, providing an extra man in attack while also forced Brazil to often bypass the ground ball, reduced to pumping it long for either film props Fred or Jo (guilty of missing big chances themselves) to latch on to.

Older and more knowledgeable fans will recall Daniel Passarella, the Argentine world cup winning captain from 1978 playing a similar role. Hard but fair, aggressive but never nasty, Medel brought order to the flying Chileans.

A hollow victory it may be, but a victory nonetheless for the Selecao.

This could well be the turning point for Brazil to wake up and realize they have a responsibility to play O Jogo Bonito with panache. – June 30, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.