CHILE FACE IMPORTANT ARGENTINA, BOLIVIA QUALIFIERS

Two-time Copa America champions Chile have a lot of work to do if they are to realise their quest of being one of the 32 teams at this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar. Chile are currently out of the first five spots that could lead to qualification as far as the South American section is concerned. The first four teams at the end of the qualifying campaign in the South American region will go straight to Qatar 2022, while the fifth-placed team has to go through the inter-confederation playoffs to qualify for the tournament. As things stands, Chile are in seventh spot on the ten-team table and with a lot of work to do to be one of the top five teams.

With four games left to play for all teams except the first two teams namely Brazil and Argentina, Chile are just a point off Peru in fifth place and even Colombia in the last automatic place (fourth place). To this effect, they can definitely salvage the situation. Colombia and Peru in fourth and fifth respectively have 17 points, while Uruguay and Chile in sixth and seventh respectively have 16 points.

The South American qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup resumes next week with Chile facing a difficult game at home to Argentina who are unbeaten in 25 matches and counting. Alongside Brazil, Argentina are without a single defeat in the qualifiers for this year’s World Cup.

Chile will take on Argentina in Calama on Thursday, January 27 with the hope that a win will get them back into the top five ahead of the remaining three games. The Chileans have already been boosted with the news that Argentina will give star player Lionel Messi a rest for the upcoming qualifiers meaning that he will miss the Chile and Colombia games.

The Chileans will battle with hosts Bolivia in La Paz on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 in their next qualifier after the Argentina encounter.