Round of 16

Today

Brazil vs Chile 1800 SS3

Colombia vs. Uruguay 22.00

WORLD CUP FAVOURITES Brazil have rediscovered their swagger and boast a superb past record against Chile but go into Saturday’s do-or-die game knowing their rivals have enough attacking prowess to wreck the hosts’ party.

Seeking a sixth World Cup on home soil, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men hit their stride in a 4-1 demolition of Cameroon that won them Group A and showed striker Neymar at his very best with two great goals and crowd-pleasing trickery on the ball.

Now facing Chile in the first game of the tournament’s knockout round, Brazil will be encouraged by recent history. They easily knocked out Chile at the same stage in the last two World Cups "La Roja” (The Red) featured in, 1998 and 2010.

Brazil has in fact won nine of their last 10 meetings.

Yet this fast and attack-minded Chile side could be the best version yet, claiming one illustrious scalp already when they beat reigning champions Spain 2-0 en route to their own qualification behind the Netherlands in Group B.

The Brazil of their opening two group games, a win but an unconvincing one against Croatia and a draw against Mexico, have not struck fear into the Chileans.

"Brazil has often been Chile’s nemesis but football changes, new generations come and new players appear,” said midfielder Arturo Vidal, known to fans as "King Arthur”, who returns from a knee injury that kept him out of the match against the Dutch.

"We’ve beaten the world champions, so we can beat Brazil.”

For that to happen, strikers Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez will have to be at their cut-throat best as they were against both Spain and Australia whom they also beat, 3-1, before the Dutch got the better of them in the final group game.

Like other Latin American nations’ fans, Chileans have flooded Brazil in their tens of thousands and are dreaming of at least emulating their best ever showing of third in 1962.

They were knocked out then by, guess who, Brazil.

With both teams more comfortable in attack than defence, the match in Belo Horizonte’s Mineirao stadium could be a rip-roarer as they go straight for each other’s defensive weak points.

The team, who are confidently predicting World Cup glory, are likely to reshuffle a bit from the Cameroon game, with Fernandinho set to replace Paulinho from the start to give the midfield more thrust and fluidity in feeding Neymar and Hulk.

In advance of the game, Neymar has warned his defence to keep tricky Barcelona teammate Sanchez in their pockets.

"Alexis is a star,” he said. "I admire him a lot. He’s a great player and we need to be careful with him. We can’t leave him any space.”

Short of Suarez, Uruguay brace for Colombia

ROCKED by the Luis Suarez biting affair, Uruguay will attempt to make light of their star player’s absence when they tackle Colombia in the World Cup’s last 16.

When Uruguay’s players should be focusing solely on the threat posed by James Rodriguez and his Colombia teammates, they instead find themselves under siege in the wake of one of the biggest World Cup scandals in recent memory.

Suarez was on Thursday handed a nine-match international ban and a four-month overall suspension for sinking his teeth into Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini’s left shoulder during Uruguay’s last group game.

Captain Diego Lugano snapped when asked about the incident in a press conference on Wednesday, slapping away questions on the subject by saying: "I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The affair has distracted attention from Uruguay’s return to the Maracana, scene of their seismic win over Brazil in the decisive game of the last Brazilian World Cup in 1950.

Come kick-off in Rio de Janeiro, Uruguay and Colombia will also know whether it is Brazil or Chile who await them in the quarterfinals in Fortaleza on July 4.

In Suarez’s absence, veteran Diego Forlan is expected to come into Uruguay’s frontline alongside Edinson Cavani, as he did when Suarez missed his side’s opening game – a 3-1 loss to Costa Rica – through injury.

Colombia meanwhile, is bidding to make history by reaching the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.

On their only previous last-16 appearance, at Italia 90, a team captained by Carlos Valderrama lost 2-1 to Cameroon, with Roger Milla memorably robbing Colombia’s eccentric goalkeeper Rene Higuita before scoring the decisive goal in extra time.