On a Rainy Night, Brazil Makes Sure It’s Not Chile

Who can stop the reign?

On a drizzly night, world champion Brazil swept aside its latest opponent, Chile, with almost alarming ease Saturday, winning, 4-1, as Ronaldo and Cesar Sampaio each scored twice.

It was not so much the margin of victory but the manner in which it was achieved that caused Coach Mario Zagallo to be crowing afterward at the Parc des Princes stadium.

“We are going to win; we are going to go all the way,” the 66-year-old, four-time World Cup winner said confidently.

And who can doubt him?

After losing its last match to Norway, 2-1, when the defense inexplicably went AWOL in the closing minutes, Brazil was totally focused against its fellow South Americans.

The game, in fact, was essentially over after half an hour.

By that time, the score was already 2-0 and Chilean heads had begun to drop.

“It was difficult against players like Ronaldo and Cesar Sampaio, who could score at any minute,” striker Ivan Zamorano said. “Once we conceded that first goal, we lost concentration.”

The Chileans made a bright start, but it took Brazil 11 minutes to rid them of any ideas they might have had about ousting the world champions.

A foul by Fernando Cornejo near the left sideline gave the Brazilians a free kick. Dunga, whose scowling features are enough to intimidate the bravest of souls, stepped up to take the kick, about 30 yards from the net.

He sent a powerful cross flashing into the goal area and Cesar Sampaio raced in at the far post, met the ball squarely with his forehead and rocketed it into the back of the net.

Javier Margas, the defender who was supposed to be guarding him, had dyed his hair bright red for the game, so it was easy for fans to pick out who had made the mistake.

It was Cesar Sampaio’s second goal of the tournament, his headed goal against Scotland on June 10 having opened the France 98 scoring.

But there was more to come from the 30-year-old who plays his club soccer in the most unlikely of places--for the Yokohama Flugels of Japan’s J-League.

In the 27th minute, Brazil again took full advantage of a free kick. This time, Roberto Carlos hammered a shot into the defensive wall and the ball caromed off Bebeto and rolled into Cesar Sampaio’s path.

Chilean goalkeeper Nelson Tapia dived to his left, Cesar Sampaio sent a hard shot to Tapia’s right, and just like that it was 2-0.

“We were a bit nervous at the beginning,” Zagallo said, “but when we scored, we settled down to play some good football. We were very strong in the second half.”

Before then, however, there was time for Ronaldo to make it 3-0.

Racing in alone on goal in first-half injury time, he was upended by Tapia, who earned a yellow card from French referee Marc Batta.

Batta pointed to the spot, Ronaldo slammed the penalty kick past Tapia, who guessed correctly and lunged left, but only got a hand to the ball and could not stop it.

Chile’s only decent scoring chance in the half came when Zamorano and Cornejo executed a perfect double give-and-go, exchanging four passes that left Cornejo with an opportunity in front of the Brazilian net.

But he got no power behind his shot and goalkeeper Taffarel was able to scoop it up without difficulty.

With victory essentially in the bag, the Brazilians used the second 45 minutes to try some party tricks. They managed to add one goal to their tally, but could have had at least three more.

In the 68th minute, Chile grabbed a goal on a counterattack, Marcelo Salas heading home after Taffarel had fumbled a header by Zamorano. It was Salas’ record-breaking 29th goal for his country.

But Brazil struck right back two minutes later. Ronaldo, free on the right, charged in and beat Tapia from close range to make it 4-1.

The victory put Brazil in the quarterfinals, where it will play the winner of today’s match between Nigeria and Denmark.

And if Nigeria’s coach, Bora Milutinovic, can survive the Danes, he will have another chance to plot Brazil’s downfall, just as he did in the final of the 1997 Gold Cup in Los Angeles.

Zagallo might be predicting a fifth World Cup triumph, but he will be cheering for Denmark today.