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A to Z of WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2010 - Chile
CHILE:
South Africa will be Chile’s first appearance at the World Cup Finals since 1998 and their eighth in all. It is a competition in they have rarely excelled. You have to go back as far as 1962, when they hosted the competition, where they secured 3rd place overall with a 1-0 victory over Yugoslavia. In all other appearances bar one (1930, 1950, 1966 and 1974 they were eliminated in Round 1. In France ’98 they made it through to the last 16 before going out 4-1 to eventual Finalists, Brazil.
Some see the current squad as the most attractive South American team in this year’s Finals, no mean compliment when Brazil are also there. Chile’s manager is the Argentine, Marcelo Bielsa, who has the unenviable reputation of being the one in charge of his native side when they suffered first round World Cup elimination in 2002. Undeterred by this experience Bielsa took charge of the Chilean squad in 2007. Currently he has a very young group of players (average age is 23) and has adopted an attacking style, especially away from home, which has earned him both plaudits and brickbats in equal measure. Critics point to the 22 goals conceded in the recent qualifying round as evidence of his tactical naivety.
The side is captained by the goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo (41 caps) who took over from Chile’s top scorer Marcelo Salas (37 goals) when he retired from the international side. Much weight will fall on the shoulders of rising star Matias Frenandez who plays his club football in Portugal for Sporting Lisbon. A skilled midfielder with great dribbling skills, he is arguably at his most deadly in dead-ball situations. Of similar ilk is Jorgi Valdiva: known as ‘El Majo’ (The Magician) because of his fantastic dribbling skills, he is at 26, one of the more experienced heads in the youthful side. Goals when they come often arrive via the boot or head of Humberto Suazo who scored 10 of Chile’s 32 goals in qualifying.
Chile, 17th in FIFA rankings, have been drawn in Group H alongside Spain, Switzerland and Honduras. They are 5/1 with Coral to win this group whilst Paddy Power have them at 4/6 to make it to the last 16. Chile are certainly seen in some quarters as potential dark horses, capable of slipping in under the radar of bigger opponents. A quarter-final place is not beyond them and you can even get odds of 14/1 from Totesport on their being eliminated from the competition at the semi-final stage.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 @ 05:01 pm by Mark
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