The 2010 FIFA World Cup continued the round of 16 fixtures overnight in South Africa, which saw heartbreak for two nations, while the remaining two kept their hopes for the winner’s title alive.
The results mean Brazil play the Netherlands in a mouth watering quarterfinal fixture, which will see one of the tournament favourites out.
First to discover their fate was Holland and Slovakia, with the two taking to the pitch at the Durban Stadium, as the tournament debutants took on one of the tournament favourites.
Slovakia has had a superb initial tournament, although the Oranje proved too big a task as they saw their tournament end with a 2-1 loss.
The return of Arjen Robben proved crucial for the Dutch, as he opened the scoring on the 18th minute making the most of a speedy counter attack.
The Netherlands were unlucky not to double the lead before going in at the break, and instead saw Slovakia come out from half time with a more attacking 4-4-2, although in their attempts to push forward allowed Wesley Sneijder in on goal, and he doubled the lead six minutes from time.
Robert Vittek missed a crucial opportunity in the 67th minute which could have made the difference, but managed to get his nation on the score sheet when he converted a penalty in the 94th minute, although it was little too late.
While Slovakia head home after an impressive World Cup campaign, Holland looked to Johannesburg to see who their quarterfinal opponent would be.
The Ellis Park Stadium was host to Brazil and Chile as the two arch rival South Americans battled it out for a place in the quarters.
The five-time world champions have not looked their solid selves thus far in the tournament, slightly holding back in the group stage, and came out to silence any doubters as they dominated in their 3-0 win.
The Brazilians looked superb from the kick off, determined to score and Luis Fabiano was unlucky in the fifth minute blasting a shot just wide of goal.
The onslaught seemed to threaten the Chilean defence who looked nervous when dealing with Brazil’s attack which came thick and fast, although it was not until the 34th minute until they broke through.
It was a superb corner by Maicon which saw Juan nod the first past Claudio Bravo, with Fabiano adding one to his name four minutes later after some superb play in front of goal culminating a counter attack.
Chile had just one shot on target in the opening 45, although Humberto Suazo’s attempt hardly rattled Brazil’s keeper Julio Cesar.
While Chile pushed in the second half, their attacks left gaps for Brazil to work their way through with Robinho putting the game past Chile when he made it 3-0 on the hour.
The results mean Brazil play the Netherlands in a mouth watering quarterfinal fixture, which will see one of the tournament favourites out, as they play off at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on the 2nd of July.
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