Belo Horizonte, June 28
It was the most exquisite tension, when at 3.55pm Belo Horizonte time, a defender released by Nottingham Forest this summer took the long walk forward to take the last of ten penalties on a hot afternoon in the Brazilian interior.

Gonzalo Jara latterly of West Bromwich Albion, Brighton on loan and an unremarkable spell at Forest was experiencing something for the first time: the eyes of the world were on him. If there was anyone not watching this game, as both sides battled through extra-time and into penalties, then they better have had a bloody good excuse. This was pressure.

This was expectation. This was Brazil at their own World Cup finals going perilously close to being tipped out by their one of their neighbours to the west, and all before it had all properly begun.

By the time that Neymar stepped up to take the last of Brazil’s five regulation penalties, his team-mates Willian and Hulk had already missed and had one saved respectively. The score stood at 2-2 and the boy wonder, at 22, had the weight of a nation’s expectations on his slender shoulders. For all his undoubted talents, Neymar has never been down as a brilliant penalty taker – in fact, in the early days at Santos one manager, subsequently sacked, preferred him not to take them.

But with a shimmy to the left and a stutter to his run-up, Neymar dispatched the last Brazil penalty to make it 3-2. Then it was left to Jara, already the scorer of a first half own goal, to take the shoot-out into sudden death. Chile had performed, once again, beyond the sum of their parts. They had been marvellous. But football can be such a swine at times and this was it. Jara against Julio Cesar, who had saved two already, including one from man of the match Alexis Sanchez.

Jara hit the post. And with that, thousands of Brazilian voices let rip. They had negotiated the first knockout round. They were in the last eight. Catastrophe had been averted, but it had been so close and their shortcomings, not least in attack had been down up in a game where they had missed chance after chance. Before then the game’s defining moment coming when Howard Webb, the English referee assigned by Fifa to the toughest game of the round, disallowed a goal for Hulk with the score at 1-1.

It was a decision that appeared to have been taken on the advice of his linesman Mike Mullarkey who was best placed to see Marcelo’s ball from the left on 55 minutes strike the bicep of Hulk before he scored.

The Brazilian has a considerable chest and big arms too, and there was just a split second and two pairs of eyes to make the call. Webb got it right, but the Brazilians hated him for it. There was a danger that Webb could find himself the scapegoat in the event of a Brazil defeat. You did not have to look far for the problems. Luiz Felipe Scolari replaced Fred with Jo in the second half and it got no better in front of goal in normal time.

With Neymar relatively becalmed and Sanchez the most dangerous player on the pitch, Chile came back into the game in extra-time.

From the start, it was like the best sort of football match, the best kind of frenetic match that the Premier League serves up so often, played at a frenetic pace in the broiling afternoon sun for no other reason than so much was at stake.

— The Independent

Rio de Janeiro, June 28
The FIFA boffins were burning the statistical oil in their science penthouse atop a perilous Alpine peak last night and have come to the conclusion that James Rodriguez is decent at football.

The omnipotent footballing body today released their latest top 10 list of best performing players at the World Cup. Known as The Castrol Index, the list is a collection of the top international players to have struck their marks thus far in the tournament. Rodriguez, who came off the Colombian bench to inspire his team to a 4-1 win over Japan, climbs from ninth to first. Two assists and a well-taken goal — shots on target, tackle and passing success are also measured — see his statistical rating climb from 9.46 to 9.79.

The following two players’ positions are somewhat surprising, not for the fact that they are in the top 10 but because they rank so highly. Ivan Perisic of Croatia, who scored in his side’s 3-1 defeat to Mexico, is second [9.74] while Brazil’s David Luiz [9.69] is next. French striker Karim Benzema led the index after the opening two rounds of matches but his failure to score against Ecuador sees him drop down to fourth.

Arjen Robben performed well against Chile and set up a Dutch goal but drops from third to fifth. Neymar has broken into the top 10 and lies in eighth after his double against Cameroon.

The biggest surprise of the index, and one that takes away from its credibility, is the failure of Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller to make the top 10. FIFA reason that Messi, who has four goals and is placed 11th, is not ranked as highly because 10 of his 13 shots have come outside the box and ‘carry a lower probability of ending in the net’. For the record, three of Messi’s 10 efforts outside the box have resulted in goals.

Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero said, "As I said last time, Leo has returned to rub the lamp.” — Agencies

FORTALEZA, June 28
Robin van Persie returns to the Dutch attack to face Mexico in the second round of the World Cup on Monday while Mexican defender Hector Moreno will lock horns with his former mentor Louis van Gaal.Van Persie was suspended for the Netherlands’ 2-0 defeat of Chile in their final group match but will be back to partner Arjen Robben in the tournament’s deadliest attacking duo.

The pair scored three each during the group stage as the Dutch romped into the last 16 with three victories and 10 goals, more than any other team at the World Cup.

That rich vein of form makes them favourites against the Mexicans but their previous clashes have been remarkably even.

In six meetings, the Dutch have won three and the Mexicans two. Of the 22 goals in those matches — an average of nearly four a game — both sides scored 11, and their only previous meeting at the World Cup, in 1998, ended in a 2-2 draw. Van Persie’s return means Dirk Kuyt is likely to be relegated to the bench after starting against Chile, but if he does play, either from the outset or as a substitute, the 33-year-old will win his 100th international cap. At the other end of the age spectrum, 20-year-old forward Memphis Depay is also likely to start on the bench despite scoring twice in his two appearances.

“I must be realistic,” he told reporters at the Dutch training camp. “With incredible players like Robben and Van Persie, it’s logical that I sit on the bench. If you see what Robben can do with dribbling the ball it’s unbelievable.”

The Mexicans are largely injury free and were impressive in the group stage, beating Croatia and Cameroon and holding Brazil to a goalless draw in Fortaleza’s Castelao arena, the setting for Monday’s showdown against the Netherlands.

Their defender Moreno played under Van Gaal at Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and knows a thing or two about the talent in the Netherlands squad. — Reuters

SAO PAULO, June 28
Brazil's biggest city is throwing open the doors of its main Carnival arena to hordes of rival fans this weekend, as more than 70,000 Argentines arrive on Tuesday.

Sao Paulo officials laid out their game plan on Friday for the Argentine invasion, urging visitors to camp in designated areas and stay away from the stadium if they do not have tickets. Caravans of Argentine cars, trucks and camper vans drove thousands of miles to descend on Rio's Copacabana beach for their team's opening game two weeks ago. Crowds are only growing as the month-long tournament advances.

Tens of thousands of Argentines also swarmed across the Brazilian border to the southern city of Porto Alegre this week. Half a dozen of them were arrested stealing tickets before the Wednesday match and one Argentine fan was shot in a bar fight, stoking worries about possible violence if Argentina meets Brazil in the championship match.

Brazil has stopped more than 30 Argentines from entering the country due to their hooliganism in their national soccer league. — Agencies

Recife, June 28
A solid defence used to be Greece’s modus operandi while Costa Rica traditionally relied on maverick individuals but the stereotypes have been shed in this World Cup where the two teams face a last-16 clash on Sunday.

A World Cup quarterfinal against either the Netherlands or Mexico is the prize on offer for both.

Few predicted that either team would make it this far.

Costa Rica turned heads by finishing above Uruguay, Italy and England in ultra-competitive Group D, yet it was the manner in which the Central Americans accumulated seven points from their three games that proved the most surprising.

They were exceptionally organised at the back, ruthlessly quick and punchy on the break and nobody stood out as being more influential than the overall team ethic.

While the fleet-footed Joel Campbell provides the focal point in attack, the most impressive thing about Costa Rica is the speed at which they get bodies up to support the lone frontman, without leaving themselves exposed at the back.

Greece, who emerged into the knockout stages after a last-gasp Giorgos Samaras penalty gave them a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast to snatch the second spot in Group C, looked anything but organised. They were porous at the back, as shown in an opening 3-0 defeat by Colombia, but sprightly in attack and generally more eager to go forward than in past tournaments, where a solid backline was usually the foundation on which they built.

Greece were caught out several times in their opener against group winners Colombia, with the players putting it down to nerves.

Against Ivory Coast, however, they arguably played their most aggressive game in years, and the two goals they scored equalled their tally for their eight previous World Cup games combined.

“We showed against Ivory Coast how well we can defend but also how good we can be in attack,” said Greece coach Fernando Santos. “We created a lot of chances and we kept attacking until the end.”

Santos, who replaced Euro 2004 winning coach Otto Rehhagel in 2010 is not amused by continued claims that Greece only know how to defend. “I can but laugh as it is a joke,” he said.

Like Costa Rica, they were nobody’s favourites to make it beyond the group stage.

Costa Rica midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda said: “We were thinking more about Colombia and the Ivory Coast and in the end came the least expected team. Now we have to change the video cassette.” — Reuters

Rio de Janeiro, June 28
The FIFA boffins were burning the statistical oil in their science penthouse atop a perilous Alpine peak last night and have come to the conclusion that James Rodriguez is decent at football.

The omnipotent footballing body today released their latest top 10 list of best performing players at the World Cup. Rodriguez, who came off the Colombian bench to inspire his team to a 4-1 win over Japan, climbs from ninth to first. Two assists and a well-taken goal — shots on target, tackle and passing success are also measured — see his statistical rating climb from 9.46 to 9.79.

The following two players’ positions are somewhat surprising, not for the fact that they are in the top 10 but because they rank so highly. Ivan Perisic of Croatia, who scored in his side’s 3-1 defeat to Mexico, is second [9.74] while Brazil’s David Luiz [9.69] is next. French striker Karim Benzema led the index after the opening two rounds of matches but dropped down to fourth. Arjen Robben performed well against Chile and set up a Dutch goal but drops from third to fifth. Neymar has broken into the top 10 and lies in eighth after his double against Cameroon.

The biggest surprise of the index, and one that takes away from its credibility, is the failure of Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller to make the top 10. FIFA reason that Messi, who has four goals and is placed 11th, is not ranked as highly because 10 of his 13 shots have come outside the box and ‘carry a lower probability of ending in the net. — Agencies

London, June 28
Rafael Nadal has made a habit this week of giving himself a tough start and in Saturday’s third round he again handed the first set to a lowly opponent before imposing himself at Wimbledon.

Nadal moved into the fourth round with a 6-7(4) 6-1 6-1 6-1 win over 63rd-ranked Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin.

Kukushkin had never won a game at Wimbledon before this year but, with little to lose, came out guns blazing, using a big first serve and pounding forehand to keep Nadal at bay. But as soon as Nadal found his returning rhythm it was one way traffic.

Maria Sharapova hit top gear as she won 11 games on the trot to cruise past Alison Riske 6-3 6-0 to reach the fourth round. — Reuters

Sydney, June 28
Saina Nehwal stands just a win away from clinching her second title of the year after she stunned top seed Shixian Wang in a gruelling three-game semifinal of the Australian Super Series. The sixth seed Indian won 21-19 16-21 21-15, taking her head-to-head record against the Chinese world No. 2 to 5-3.

Saina showed tremendous grit to outsmart Wang. As expected, it was an evenly-contested battle between the two players, who are pretty familiar with each other.

In the opening game, it went neck and neck till 19-19 before Saina broke away to seal the issue in her favour.

Not the one to give up easily, Wang roared back in the second game. The two players were even till the 16th point but Wang broke off from that point to draw level with Saina. However, Saina showed great composure in the final battle of attrition and won the third game comprehensively to set up the final with Spain’s Carolina Marin, who beat Japan’s Yui Hashimoto 21-17 21-16. — PTI