Belo Horizonte (Brazil), June 28: The knockout phase of the 2014 Fifa World Cup begins on Saturday with hosts and five-time champions Brazil taking on Chile, who defeated holders Spain in their group. The game will be played at the Estádio Mineiro in Belo Horizonte.

[Read: Colombia look favourites against Uruguay]

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History favours Brazil who haven't lost to their South American rivals on home soil ever. Chile, in fact, haven't defeated Brazil in more than a decade now and will be looking to turn the tides this time, thanks to an impressive show so far in this World Cup.

Chile feel there is no reason not to defeat Brazil, ranked 11 above them in Fifa's list, while their heavyweight opponents too admit that the former is a threatening lot.

Brazil's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari warned about Chile more than six months ago after the World Cup draw was made. Despite Spain and the Netherlands looking favourites to top the group at that time, Scolari said that his biggest concern was Chile and he hoped that they didn't get through to the second round. Scolari particularly praised Chile's coach Jorge Sampaoli.

On the other hand, Sampaoli, an Argentine, said: "For me this match is a dream."

Brazil's coach expressed his concern for Chile when WC draw was released

Brazil last lost to Chile in a World Cup qualifier in 2000 and have won 10 of the 12 matches they have played with Chile since then. The two teams have met thrice in the World Cup finals with all the results going in Brazil's way. In 1962, Brazil won 4-2 in the semi-finals while in 1998 and 2010, they won 4-1 and 3-0, respectively, in the Round of 16.

The two teams have played two friendly matches in the last one year with Brazil winning one and the other one ending in a draw. The drawn match was played at the same Mineirao Stadium where Saturday's big match will be played.

Chile have four players who are well-versed with Brazilian football. Eduardo Vargas played for Brazilian club Gremio until last year while Jorge Valdivia play for Palmeiras, Charles Aranguiz for Internacional and Eugenio Mena for Santos.

Brazil will also be wary about the fact that they have four players who are going into Saturday's match with a yellow card, including striker Neymar, who has scored four goals in this edition and is one of the favourites to win the Golden Boot award. Another yellow card would sideline him if Brazil advance into the quarters. Scolari has already cautioned that Brazil couldn't afford to make any more mistakes in the knock-out stage.

Road to Round of 16

Brazil topped Group A with two wins and a draw. They beat Croatia 3-1 and Cameroon 4-1 but couldn't put it past the Mexican goalkeeper. They finished with seven points, same as Mexico, but topped the table owing to a better goal difference.

Chile, on the other hand, finished second in Group B behind the Netherlands with six points. They beat Australia 3-1 and Spain 2-0 before going down 0-2 to the Dutch.

The match begins at 9.30 pm IST.

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