CHILE FACE COSTA RICA

Chile are preparing to face Costa Rica in a friendly match on Wednesday. This match could potentially be the make or break for several fringe players according to Chile’s national team manager Jorge Sampaoli.

Chile have been classified as one of the dark horses for the title due to the presence of star names like Alexis Sanchez and Vidal amongst many others. Since these players are extremely young, this current team is expected to have a great future. They did extremely well in the previous World Cup, but the home support is expected to make them even stronger in the 2014 edition.

The national team will be up against Costa Rica in a friendly match on Wednesday, which will be the penultimate competitive match that the team has before the World Cup.

They have one more match against Germany lined up in March, but this will be the final chance for fringe players according to Sampaoli. Malmo wingback Miiko Albornoz was one of the name included in the squad, and Sampaoli has stated that his presence does not come as a surprise to his backroom staff since they have been watching the player for some time.

He says that players who perform well in this kind of match can potentially be part of the World Cup squad.

“We’ve followed Albornoz since we found out he could be selected. The option opened up and we took it. Albornoz has shown his willingness and we hope he has a good game. These kind of matches serve as a way to see who can be an option for the World Cup,” said the manager, whose team have been grouped alongside Spain, Netherlands, and Australia. This is one of the toughest groups in the competition since it includes two former world champions. Spain are the current holders of the title.