Into the Last Eight Now!

This morning saw the completion of the round of sixteen fixtures of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Brazil as expected qualified for the last eight but they had to work hard before seeing off a determined Chile side which took them all the way to the penalty shootout.

David Luis put the host in the 18th minute but Alexis Sanchez made the most of a mistake in the Brazil defence to level the score just after the half hour mark.

The host could have gone out when in the last minute Sanchez played through Mauricio Pinilla but his shot came off the bar, much to the dismay of Chilean travelling supporters.

There was no more goal and the match had to be settled through penalty shootout. Julio Cesar saved the first two Chile penalties but their opponents quickly levelled the score again when Willian missed and Claudio Bravo saved Hulk's effort.

Brazil Neymar put his side in front again which put the pressure back on the Chileans. Their next penalty take, Gonzalo Jara beat Julio Cesar with his effort but much to his horror the ball hit the post and went out.

It will be another South American side in the last eight for Luiz Filipe Scolari's side in the form of Colombia.

Jose Pekerman's boys saw off Uruguay which had to play without their talismanic Luis Suarez, banned for four months after the biting incident during their last group match against Italy.

Two wonderful goals from James Rodriguez sealed their place in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

Holland meanwhile booked their place in the last eight with a dramatic finish to their match against Mexico. The north american team had gone ahead when Geovani Dos Santos scored three minutes into the second half with a well taken shot from outside the box.

Mexico goalkeeper, Guillermo Ochoa performed heroics again to put the Dutch at bay but he was helpless when Wesley Sneidjer's volley from a set up by Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar levelled the score two minutes from time.

Then in stoppage time a controversial incident involving Arjen Robben saw referee awarding Holland a penalty which Huntelaar converted to break Mexican hearts.

Louis Van Gaal's men now are going to take on surprise package, Costa Rica in the last eight after the Central Americans knocked out Greece.

Bryan Ruiz put Costa Rica ahead seven minutes after the start of the second half and they looked set for a win as the match entered stoppage time.

However the plucky Greeks kept on trying and scored the equaliser when centreback Sokratis Papastathapolous took full advantage of a spill by Costa Rica goalkeeper, Keylor Navas.

Extra time did not produce further goal and penalty shootout was required to settle the match. The first three penalty takers from both sides were successful before Joel Campbell slotted the fourth one for Costa Rica.

Navas then saved Theofanis Gekas' effort and when Michael Umana converted his, history was created as his country became the first Central American side to qualify to the last eight at the world cup.

France were made to sweat by Nigeria but they put out an efficient performance but were kept out most of the time by the Nigerian goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama.

However it was his single mistake that led to France opening the score when his weak touch from a corner saw the ball fell to Paul Pogba who calmly headed the ball into the goal.

From then on it always looked like the French which going to qualify and to add further salt to their injury Joseph Yobo accidently put the ball past Enyeama as he tried to prevent substitute Antoine Griezmann from getting it.

The Germany versus Algeria clash would always had their Gijon encounter in 1982 as the backdrop. This time around the Algerians also managed to push the German to the limit, forcing the match into extra time.

However, two minutes into the added period Andre Schurrle's improvisation broke the deadlock as he adjusted himself to get to a Thomas Muller low pass into the box.

Algeria pushed hard but they conceded again as the match entered its last minutes of extra time through Mesut Ozil who took the second bite of the cherry after the first one by Schurrle was cleared of the line.

Then to add to the drama, Algeria managed to score one at the death through substitute Abdelmoumene Djabou but it was too late. Thus it was a mouthwatering clash between the French and the Germans at the Maracana on 4 July.

The last day of the fixtures saw both matches went into extra-time. Switzerland did not bow to Argentina as expected but a defensive lapse saw the ball went to Lionel Messi and he took full advantage by setting up Angel Di Maria who finally put one past the Swiss goalkeeper, Diego Benaglio.

Then the clash between Belgium and the USA also saw no goals scored during normal time but it was indeed the most entertaining match between the eight.

It was an inspired substitution by Belgium head coach, Marc Wilmots who sent on Romelo Lukaku for the hard working but tiring Divock Origi.

It was his running that opened up the Yankees defence that allowed Kevin De Bruyne to score three minutes into extra time. Lukaku himself scored the second in the 105th minute.

Jurgen Klinsmann then sent his own substitute, Julian Green at the end of the first period of extra time. The Bayern Munich youngster who will turn twenty this month reduced the deficit in the 107th minute but the USA could not find their way past Thibaut Courtois again to force the match into penalties.


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