RIO DE JANEIRO (SportingAlert) — After a day of rest, hosts Brazil will get the World Cup knock-out phase started on Saturday when they take on Chile, while Colombia and Uruguay will clash in the second match on the day.
Round of 16 Fixtures
Brazil v Chile, Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte, 12:00 pm ET (13:00 local time)
Colombia vs Uruguay, Estadio de Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, 4:00pm ET (17:00 local time)
Live TV channels and webcast streaming will be on: ESPN3.com, WatchESPN, ABC, Watch ABC, ESPN Deportes+, Univision USA, Univision Deportes USA, beIN Sports 1 HD, beIN Sports 12 HD, beIN Sports 11 HD, beIN Sports 13 HD, SBS Radio 4, SBS Radio 3, SBS One Australia, CBC Sports Live Streaming, RTE Player, RTE 2, SKY GO, TVNZ On-Demand, Sky Sport 5 NZ, SuperSport 3, BBC One UK, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live.
At Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Neymar and company get things started, as a massive crowd will be at hand to watch Brazil and Chile take part in the first round of last 16 World Cup match.
Both teams have key players nursing small niggles, but they are all expected to available for the contest.
Defender David Luiz has a slight back problem, while Hulk is still nursing a muscle injury in his left leg.
For Chile, they will be hoping that defender Gary Medel can recover from his ankle problem, while Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal is set to return to the starting lineup after he was rested for the final group match against the Netherlands.
Chile played to an exciting 2-2 draw with Brazil at this venue last year and are confident of shocking the pre-World Cup favourites. At the sametime, though, Brazil head into the fixture knowing that they have won all three previous World Cup fixtures against Chile. The Canarinha picked up victories in the knockout stages of the tournament in 2010, 1998 and 1962, while Chile are yet to win in 26 visits to Brazil, including 20 defeats.
Colombia v Uruguay
The second last 16 World Cup game on Saturday sees a very exciting Colombian team taking on a Uruguay side that will be without top forward Luis Suarez for the clash in Rio de Janeiro.
After making some eight changes for their final group stage match in the win over Japan, Colombia will restore its top players against Uruguay. James Rodriguez, Juan Cuardrado and Teofilo Gutierrez all set to start, with Jackson Martinez, who netted twice against Japan expected to play some part in the game as well.
Uruguay are without banned forward Suarez, so veteran Diego Forlan will likely link up with Edinson Cavani in the attack.
There were suggestions that Óscar Tabárez could use Cavani as the lone forward, but the coach says he wants to use another player to stretch the Colombia back line, seeing that Cavani drops deep most of the time and leaves spaces for others to run into.
Skipper Diego Lugano is still being bothered by a knee injury and could be forced out of this game again for Uruguay.
