Chelsea’s Brazilian playmaker Oscar admitted he must make more of his opportunities as he and Brazil failed to unlock the stubborn Chilean defence.
It may seem paradoxical, but despite the scoreline reading Chile 2-0 Brazil, it was in fact Brazil who began this game the better. Willian was getting the better of Chile left back Jean Beausejour but ultimately Brazil couldn’t build on these opportunities and this let La Roja back into the game.
In the first half, Brazil recovered many loose balls in the midfield but the final pass wasn’t accurate enough. In the second, Brazil’s number 10 – wearing 11 on the night – continually failed with his passing, something he admits the whole team suffered from during the game.
However the Chelsea midfielder defended his teams play; “We played better than Chile in the first half and we started well in the second. We had at least four counter-attacks that should have done better with and with a bit more fortune at the set pieces and we could have scored the goal.”
Nonetheless it was Chile who came up with the decisive moments in the games as Brazil and Oscar’s game became errant with mistakes as they looked to break down their opponents mulish defence.
He admitted;
“I leave disappointed because we were good. I think in the end I could have finished better. The best option was kicked with the left-handed.”
Nonetheless Brazil can’t carry on lamenting missed opportunities even though their record of 15 years without losing to Chile came to a sorry end. Despite this loss consigning the Selecao to their first loss of the World Cup qualifiers they will be content in the fact that they can put it right almost immediately on Tuesday against Venezuela.
As for Oscar, his place isn’t entirely cemented and with the likes of Lucas Lima, Kaka and Philippe Coutinho lurking he will be hoping he can find the matching winning pass, this time around to prise open the Venezuelan defence.
