Brazil beat South American rival Chile on Monday night, 3-0, to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup football tournament in South Africa.
It's been a decade of dominance by the Brazilians over the Chileans. Before a crowd of more than 54,000 people, Brazil recorded its eighth consecutive victory over Chile, a winning streak spanning 10 years.
The Brazilians broke the game open with two quick goals in the first half. Juan opened the scoring in the 35th minute with a header off a corner kick. Three minutes later, Luis Fabiano increased Brazil's lead. He received a one-touch pass from Kaka, dribbled past Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and then knocked the ball into an open net. It was Fabiano's third goal at this World Cup. Robinho wrapped up the scoring in the 59th minute.
During the match, a couple of fans walked around the stadium with two giant gold replicas of the World Cup trophy. Based on the way the Brazilians are playing now, the five-time World Cup champions could very well reclaim the real trophy on July 11, when the final is held.
"I thought it was a great game," said Hugh Malotsi, a South African football fan who was at the game. "I watched Brazil play Portugal in the last group game, first round game. And it was disappointing because they really weren't pushing the ball. But today, they really came to play, so it was quite awesome to see. The score could have been much higher. I think you have to consider them the favorites. I saw Holland play today - the Dutch are great. Germany is playing well; there are a lot of good teams. Argentina is playing really well. But I still think Brazil is probably the best team so far."
Brazil will next play the Netherlands on Friday in Port Elizabeth.
The Dutch are through to the quarterfinals after a 2-1 victory over Slovakia earlier Monday in Durban. Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder scored in each half for the Netherlands. Robert Vittek scored on a last-minute penalty kick for Slovakia, which upset Italy, 3-2, in its previous match, eliminating the defending World Cup champion.
The field for the World Cup quarterfinals will be complete by the end of Tuesday's matches. In the day's first game, Paraguay will play Japan in Pretoria. That will be followed by a match between Spain and Portugal in Cape Town.
