‘It was our home World Cup and I made crucial saves to take it to a penalty shootout against Chile. That’s when goalkeepers stand alone against the world’ Julio Cesar recalls Brazil’s 2014 World Cup win over Chile

When Brazil hosted their first World Cup for 64 years in 2014, it’s fair to say the pressure was on the Selecao to exorcise the demons of 1950 and win the trophy on home soil.

The final match of the 1950 World Cup - technically not the final, as it was a round robin stage - saw Uruguay break the hearts of a nation, when they defeated Brazil 2-1 in the Maracana to claim their second title.

Brazil goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa would go down as the scapegoat that afternoon after the winning goal slipped underneath him and this would haunt him for the rest of his life, feeding the narrative that Brazil could not produce good goalkeepers.

Julio Cesar on the 2014 World Cup

Fast forward to 2014, and Julio Cesar was the Selecao’s No.1 for the World Cup, despite the fact that he had fallen behind Robert Green in the QPR pecking order and moved to Toronto FC on loan in order to get regular minutes in the run-up to the tournament.

Brazil negotiated the group stage without much fuss, with comprehensive wins over Croatia and Cameroon sandwiching a draw against Mexico.

A lively Chile side, who qualified for the knockout phase at the expense of holders Spain, awaited in the last-16. David Luiz and Alexis Sanchez traded first-half goals as the two South American sides played out an entertaining 1-1 draw, meaning penalties were needed.

This would provide Cesar with the opportunity to be the hero.

“It was our home World Cup, and we faced Chile in the round of 16 on a hot day in Belo Horizonte," Cesar recalls to FourFourTwo. "The match was intense and ended 1-1, but I made several crucial saves to take it to a penalty shootout.

"Then, that’s when goalkeepers stand alone against the world. I saved two penalties from Mauricio Pinilla and Alexis Sanchez, which put us in a strong position.

"Gonzalo Jara missed the decisive one, and we advanced to the next round. It was my best moment with the Brazilian national team, but the tournament ended with that nightmare 7-1 defeat against Germany.”

That semi-final thrashing would provide another national inquest in Brazil and after losing the third-place playoff to the Netherlands, Cesar would announce his international retirement.