Mario Zagallo stopped short of saying it, but the message was clear when he supervised Brazil's final training session in preparation for this evening's match. People who write off the champions on the evidence of their late collapse against Norway, and a shock 2-1 defeat at Marseille on Tuesday, do so at their peril.

"The championship is won over seven games - there is sufficient time for us to recover from this setback," he told journalists. "Norway didn't surprise us by the way they played, but we didn't do the things we had planned to counteract their style. That was the difference between winning and losing the game.

"We are more familiar with Chile and the players in their team, but the most important thing is that we take our scoring chances as they come. We failed to do this against the Norwegians and that was why we lost."

As a man who has shared in four World Cup triumphs, either as player or manager, Zagallo's knowledge of what it takes to win the World Cup is unrivalled. Yet, it's going to need a significant rehabilitation to get his team fully focused again after the Norwegian defeat. In particular, he will be looking at the centre of his defence which seemed vulnerable against the aerial power of Tore Andre Flo and, equally, the failure of Ronaldo to deliver. This evening the pressure will be on Ronaldo, the more so since Marcelo Salas, a man with aspirations of eventually displacing him as the game's top striker, will be leading the Chilean attack.

Against Italy, Salas and Chile looked formidable. Subsequent performances against Austria and Cameroon were less imposing and yet, confronted with the challenge of upsetting the favourites, the certainty is that they will raise their game accordingly.

Whether that will be sufficient to redress a perceived imbalance in class remains to be seen but, either way, it promises to be a fascinating illustration of the qualities of South American football.