Two great performances from pre-Cup heavyweights have set up a tantalizing quarter final clash between the multiple-time winners and the country which is looking to get its hands on their first World Cup.

I’m Back… Robben fired Oranje to victory.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were less convincing than the Samba boys from Brazil, but with the return of an energetic Arjen Robben, they looked much better than in the group stages. The win continues their unbeaten run stretching remarkably back to 2008 when they were defeated by Australia at home.

Meanwhile in Johannesburg, Juan, Luis Fabiano and Robinho were on hand to score an impressive win over Chile. The victory was ever more notable as Chile had endured a decent group stage. The smaller of the South American sides came out firing though and dominated early. But once Brazil stemmed the tide, it was one-way traffic from there on.

So now we have two sides that are in great form that will set up a great clash on July 3rd at Port Elizabeth.

But what do the stats say about these two teams?

If they’re any guideline, it’ll be a very close game as most are predicting. As can be seen below, the two have played nine games, Brazil edging it with three victories compared with Netherlands two, with four draws. The South Americans have also scored one more goal than the Dutch.

Head to Head Clashes: 9

BRA: 3
(goals scored: 14)

NET: 2
(goals scored: 13)

DRAW: 4

AVG. GOALS P/GAME: 3

The Netherlands are on a great run, and Brazil always turns up for these latter stages of the Cup so let’s look at each team’s record over this and the last two World Cups as well as their All-Time World Cup Ranking. (*Note that Brazil’s last two Cup appearances were at Germany/South Korea and Japan, whilst Netherlands’ were Germany/France.)

BRAZIL

Played: 16
W: 14
D: 1
L: 1
Win: 88%
Avg. Goals Scored P/Game: 2.25
Avg. Goals Conceded P/Game: 0.50
All-Time WC Ranking: 1st – W69%/L15% – 19 Appearances – For/Against: 206/87 = +119

NETHERLANDS

Played: 15
W: 9
D: 4
L: 2
Win: 60%
Avg. Goals Scored P/Game: 1.53
Avg. Goals Conceded P/Game: 0.66
All-Time WC Ranking: 8th – W48%/L26% – 9 Appearances – For/Against: 64/37 = +27

So as can be seen, Brazil hold a slight advantage in World Cup records over the last two World Cups, and it’s fair to say that after disappointing endings for both teams in 2006, both will want to claim a semi-final berth. It’s always nice to have a nice World Cup record (as Brazil do) but we all know that when it comes to the knockout stages a lot of these stats mean nothing.

As far as predictions go, we’re going for a tight 3-1 Brazilian win after extra time. Don’t be surprised to see this one go to penalties either.

(p/game)
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Gordon D'Mello

Gordon is a Journalism student at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney who has a huge passion in the field of sports writing and sport itself. Here he is a writer, senior editor and is also a co-founder of Injury Time.