Brazil on Saturday squares off against Chile, an opponent the five-time World Cup winner hasn’t lost to since a World Cup qualifier 14 years ago. Since, Brazil has won 10 of its 12 games againstthis opposition. In the World Cup, Brazil has faced Chile three times, winning all three, including most recently, a 3-0 round of 16 win in South Africa four years ago
In his pre-game pressconference, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted he would have a tough time convincing people that this is actually be a very difficult game for the Selecao. “When I talked about Chile then,people made fun of me, they said Chile wasn’t good enough,” Scolari said. “But I already knew the work of coach [Jorge] Sampaoli and their players. We already knew how they played.”
Headded: “Now we can’t make any more mistakes. In the group stage we could still slip here and there and still advance. Now we can’t. We have to have a very balanced team, we can’t make any mistakes,that’s what has to change beginning with this next game.”
Brazil and Chile played twice in friendlies 2013. Scolari’s men won 2-1 in November in Canada, and the teams drew 2-2 in April at thesame Mineirao Stadium where Saturday’s match will be played.