The third day of the knockout round saw two nations with rich World Cup tradition against two underdogs trying to make a name for themselves in this World Cup.
In the first game of the day, Holland took on Slovakia.
The already strong Netherlands squad was given an added bonus when midfielder Arjen Robben was named in the starting lineup, and quickly he made his prescence felt.
In the 18th minute, Wesley Sneijder sent a long ball from the Dutch's own half of the field right into the path of the run of Robben. Robben turned inside passing one defender, before shooting across his body, and watching the ball slither past the goalie and into the net to give Holland the 1-0 lead.
Both teams created plenty of chances, with Robert Vittek of Slovakia nearly equalizing on a couple of occations, and Robin Van Persie and Joris Mathijsen nearly adding to the Dutch lead.
But finally in the 84th minute, Sneijder finally put the game out of reach when he slotted home from 18 yards away into an open net to give Holland the 2-0 lead.
In the 90th minute during injury time, Robert Vittek converted a penalty shot for Slovakia, but it was not enough to stay in the World Cup, and Slovakia fell to Holland 2-1.
"We played well for the first half-hour," said Netherlands coach Bert Van Marwijk. "We were good at the start of the second half too, but we failed to add a second goal. Maarten Stekelenburg then saved us twice at a very important time. It's obviously fantastic to have Robben come back after injury and show that he's already fit enough to be scoring that kind of goal."
In the second game of the day, Brazil took on their South American companions Chile.
Brazil and Chile both showed the world in this game how to play beautiful football, and how defensive battles are not the way to play.
Brazil started off their scoring in the 35th minute when defender Juan latched onto a corner kick and sent a powerful header into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Just three minutes later, a Brazilian counter attack put the Chileans in a world of trouble, and the Brazilians in a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Robinho dribbled in on the left before sending a pass into the center to his teammate Kaka. Kaka gave a one touch pass forward to Luis Fabiano, who just stayed had just stayed onside. Luis Fabiano then rounded the keeper and then slotted home to give the Brazilians the two goal cushion.
After this the Chileans became desparate, and spent the rest of the game leading charge after charge on the Brazilian goal.
But in the 59th minute, Robinho struck the nagger in the heart of the Chileans, when after a brilliant run from midfield by Ramires, Robinho received the ball at the top of the box and beautifully curved it around the keeper and just into the far post to give Brazil the 3-0 lead.
Despite some close calls, Brazil held on to the shutout, and advanced to the quarter-finals (Brazil has made the quarter-finals five World Cups in a row).
"I think that A Selecao (Nickname for the Brazilian team) made a real breakthrough today," said the goal scorer Luis Fabiano. "We created several moves and were able to launch our counter-attacks. We've come through another difficult game and we're getting there, step by step."
The Netherlands will take on Brazil on July 2 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth at 10:00AM ET.
