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Thiago Silva was either very selfless or very cowardly—depending on your perspective—when he asked not to take a penalty in Brazil's shootout against Chile in the last 16 of the World Cup.

The Brazil captain had only scored from one of his last three spot-kicks, and he didn't want to put his side's hopes at risk by taking another.

In quotes reported by Dirty Tackle, Silva said:

Hitting a penalty is a big responsibility at home and I asked God not to be selected. I missed two of my last three and Scolari asked me to be the sixth. I said no, I asked to be last on the list, behind Julio Cesar.

Cesar, of course, went on to be the hero with some fine saves that helped Brazil into the quarter-finals. And the shootout was won after five rounds of penalties, which means that Silva's request to be dropped down the order was not an issue.

So was Silva stepping back for the good of his team—or the good of himself? Have your say in the comments section.

[Dirty Tackle]