Brazil v Chile: The World Cup match you can't miss

Think the World Cup has been great so far? Things are about to pick up.

When the round of 16 begins this weekend, make sure you have enough caffeine in your system to stay up for a real early morning treat.

Two South American powerhouses, both tipped to progress into the latter stages of the tournament, will battle it out for a place in the quarter finals.

In one corner we have the home nation Brazil, who have had their fair share of troubles in the group stages, but looked fairly comfortable in their 4-1 win against Cameroon in their final match.

The Brazilian supporters, who are vocal yet impatient, will expect their main man Neymar to put in a good shift for the Selecao. The golden boot favourite already has four goals to his name and when Neymar is on song, so is the rest of the Brazilian squad.

Creative players such as Oscar will need to get onto the ball early and rule the midfield to frustrate the Chileans. The centre back partnership of David Luiz and Thiago Silva will be key for Brazil, as they need to contain Chile’s deadly fast breaks.

The other corner showcases a very impressive Chilean side under the watchful eye of Jorge Sampaoli. Very much following in the footsteps of his predecessor Marcelo Bielsa, Sampaoli has encouraged his side to attack and take the game to their opponents, which is exactly what we will see against the Brazilians. With attacking options such as Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez and Valencia’s Eduardo Vargas both sporting ridiculous amounts of pace, why wouldn’t the Chileans take the game on?

After solid displays against both Australia and current World champions Spain, Chile were tactically outclassed in their final group game against the Netherlands, losing 2-0 to Louis van Gaal’s men. Chile’s high intensity pressing game is usually a nuisance for opponents, but was handled well by the Dutch and I’m sure Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari will look at the tape and try to control the Chileans’ game.

Both defences may have their problems, but Chile’s defence lacks the quality of their Brazilian counterparts, which could have a huge effect on the game considering the likely offensive nature of it.

As a neutral, this is most definitely a good thing.

Two teams both intent on attacking and playing positive, end-to-end football with a bit of South American flair is exactly the reason you cannot miss this.